


The Adventure Found Them

by Kelkat9



Series: Time, Eternals and the Not Quite So Domestic LIfe [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Adventure, Aliens, Dreams, Eternals, F/M, House Hunting, Mythology - Freeform, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-04 01:22:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6635266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelkat9/pseuds/Kelkat9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose and TenII are consultants for Torchwood, settling into Pete's World, dealing with domestics and aliens alike. All is not as it seems and a shadow lurks in the future. Part of my Eternals series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was the first thing I wrote and posted in 2011. I'm editing it to try and fix it up a little as I post to AO3.

Three months after Bad Wolf Bay...

The warm afternoon light filtered through the vibrant purple leaves of the gambello tree, gently caressing the young couple lying beneath. Giggling quietly, and enjoying their banana daiquiris, they were clueless that their peaceful afternoon would end with white, fluffy balls of terror falling from the sky.

"Seriously, that's how you intend on starting the story!" Rose exclaimed peering over the Doctor's shoulder as he tapped madly away on her laptop while lounging on the living room sofa.

"Well, it's better than once upon a time," the Doctor responded, sniffing indignantly.

"We weren't drinking banana daiquiris. And really, white fluffy balls of terror? That's not how I remember it."

"Rooooose, I have to engage my readers and what better way than to slightly embellish with banana daiquiris. Everyone loves banana daiquiris," he insisted pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Because bananas are good," Rose responded with the patented Tyler grin.

"Exactly! Besides, there's nothing wrong with artistic license. It is being published as fiction so if I add a few extra bits here and there-" He paused and whipped around to face her. "What's wrong with white fluffy balls of terror?"

"Well, I don't recall them being very fluffy, more fuzzy balls with teeth grazing on whatever they could roll into their mouths. Sort of like tennis balls with attitude," Rose teased, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear as he opened and closed his mouths in outrage.

"Tennis balls! Rose, they were nothing like tennis balls! The Balovine have been known to destroy entire planetary ecosystems in a matter of weeks."

"That's funny seems like on Sestress IV they were contained in a couple of hours and the people there felt so bad for the ball-o-whatsits they created a preserve for them," she reminded as she wrinkled her nose at a stack of dirty dishes sitting next to him.

"Balovines Rose and that's because I was there and besides whose story is this anyway!" He turned back to his laptop.

Rose threw up her hands and strolled away from the living room. "Fine, it's your story, tell it however you want. I'll just nip out for tea at Starbelles while the great author creates his masterpiece."

At the sound of Starbelles, the Doctor quickly slapped the laptop shut "Starbelles, oooo, aren't they the ones with the tasty little pastries filled with boysenberry jam!"

"You wanna come with me? What about your story?" Rose asked as she grabbed her wallet off the kitchen table.

"Rose Tyler, you can't force art. All great artists require inspiration and what better inspiration than tea and pastries with you," the Doctor said with that grin that always melted Rose's heart.

His writing project was just the latest hobby to fill his time and one she suggested. He had so many brilliant stories and she loved hearing about them as he wrote. And seeing his enthusiasm filled her with warmth. She couldn't help but think how lucky she was to have the Doctor here with her. It may not have been what she planned or perfect but when did anything with the Doctor ever work as planned. 

And plans were something she'd been working on and the majority of which now centered around him. Tea at Starbelles would be neutral ground for them to talk about the future. She knew the Doctor wasn't very happy with the flat and even more unhappy that she was still working for Torchwood and it was time to talk about it and their future together.

At the counter at Starbelles, the Doctor fidgeted and babbled about the tea selections; he had to try a sample of everything. Rose couldn't help but giggle at him bouncing in front of the glass case and his reactions to samples.

"No, too spicy. Ick, too bitter. Blimey, how much citrus is in that stuff!" 

Feeling sorry for the brewista, Rose stepped in and ordered for him; but then of course, he eyed the pastries. 

Rose talked him into three different pastries. Finally, settling into a corner table with their drinks and assorted treats, Rose knew she couldn't put it off any longer. She twisted a piece of her hair in her fingers, trying to think how to bring up the subject of Torchwood as she gazed down into her tea.

The Doctor knew something was on her mind as Rose normally had a one pastry rule. Here they sat with an assortment between them. 

"Rose, do you want to talk about something or have a gaggle of Kulotak parasites colonized in your hair?"

Rose slowly examined the hair she had been twisting, her brow furrowing with worry. "How would I know if they did," she asked in a questioning tone.

"Well, I would think the stench would be your first sign," he responded staring at her hair. "They excrete a hormone that smells a bit like soured milk." He then leaned over and took a whiff of her hair "Nope no Kulotaks there," he pronounced. "So now that we have established you are Kulotak-free, what's really on your mind?"

Rose met his concerned gaze. Only the Doctor would ask her what she was thinking while discussing an alien infestation. She smiled as he waited for her to speak. They didn't often have quiet moments like this and she cherished them.

"Actually, Doctor, I was thinking maybe we should talk about what we should do," she said, her voice hesitant.

"Do? What do you mean, we're having tea and pastries."

"No, I mean the future. Where should we live? What should we do with ourselves?"

The Doctor stared at her in confusion. They'd never worried about any of that before. Why would they now? Was Rose unhappy? He thought she had accepted this version of him and everything was moving along quite nicely. They had moved into her flat and really he had only made few minor modifications. It was her idea that he write the book about his adventures so he would, in her words "have something to do to keep you out of trouble." He hated the thought of getting a job and couldn't stand living off her Torchwood wages. He had even gone to Torchwood with her once and only nicked a few minor bits they would never miss. Oh he hoped she hadn't found out about the exploding tins of peas at the market. Really, it wasn't his fault. He was sure there were vicious Oliki hiding amongst the tins.

"Is this about the blender?" he asked while characteristically tugging on his ear.

"No," Rose answered with a giggle. "I don't really mind the sonic blender." She paused and arched a brow at him. "As long as it doesn't explode; set the flat on fire or send out a signal to some alien race causing an invasion." 

"Oh, no, no, no, it certainly won't explode or set anything on fire," he responded quickly worried about the potential for a sonic signal but maybe he could distract her from that small point.

"Besides, Rose, even Jackie admitted I made the best daiquiris all thanks to my brilliant sonic blender!"

Rose smiled, not forgetting the fact that he very neatly avoided the whole signaling an alien race point but that could be discussed another time. She had more important issues to talk about and besides, she could hardly worry about an invasion. She had the Doctor, after all.

"Doctor, I know you aren't happy in the flat and every time I bring up Torchwood you get a pinched expression on your face."

The Doctor sighed. "Rose, I don't hate the flat, it's just so… well, it's not dimensionally transcendental. I've spent the last few centuries of my life with virtually no walls or confined spaces. Wellll, except a few prison cells but then those were temporary; anyway, I've just been used to the freedom to go wherever, whenever, and now it's just, well, an adjustment to live in a space that's smaller on the inside. Not that I hate it. After all, it's your home and if it's yours, it can't be bad."

Rose reached across the table and grasped his hand. "Doctor, that flat was just temporary until I found you and it's never been home to me. We can live wherever you like. Home is wherever you are." she smiled at the look of wonder on his face.

"Rose Tyler, you are just amazing. Nowhere in the multiverse is there anyone like you. Thank you."

Now Rose felt it was time. "Doctor, about Torchwood..." Before she could go on, a hard look crossed his face.

"No." His voice was curt and a dark expression hardened his face.

"What do you mean, no. You haven't even let me finish."

"I'm not working for Torchwood, done, end of story."

"I'm not asking you to," Rose answered with an edge in her voice.

"I see, then what exactly are you saying?" He cradled the cup in his hands

"I know you don't like me at Torchwood. And I know you hate that we make our living off of Torchwood." She paused and swallowed hard, watching him withdraw into himself. "Doctor, I have to make a living for us, but I don't want Torchwood to come between us either."

The Doctor tensed up in way Rose identified as Time Lord before ancient penetrating eyes trained on her. 

"I've always taken care of you," he began in a quiet voice. "I don't recall us ever having to work for any morally ambiguous governmental agency to survive and you're right I hate it. I hate that you leave to go to work for this agency that has a history of corruption. I hate that they require you to carry a weapon. At this point in time, even in Pete's World, humans are not ready for the technology that Torchwood has at its disposal and is experimenting with. It's dangerous for you and this world and it's only a matter of time before something Torchwood does causes damage to you, London or Earth. You're clever and brilliant and I would never hold you back, but Rose, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry but I will never like that you work for Torchwood. I can't tell you not to work there. That's your decision, but I don't have to like it. Rose, you could do anything with your life, anything at all, you know that right?" He reached for her hand lacing his fingers with hers.

Rose inhaled sensing the weight of this moment. "Doctor, I have loved you more than anything or anyone and always will. Torchwood was my only chance to get back to you and my only connection to the life I had with you. You're right, Torchwood was dangerous, but Pete will never allow it to get that way again. I have done everything I can to help him keep it on a better path, one that will be responsible for not just the world today but for the future. I hadn't really planned for any future other than one with you. I won't and can't choose Torchwood over you. I told you, I'm not ever gonna leave you and if that means me quitting Torchwood, so be it."

Rose's eyes teared as she met his steady gaze. "I love you. We don't have to be in the flat, near Torchwood or even in London if you want. We may not be able to go whenever but we can go wherever."

A smile burst to his face and he pulled Rose across the table, spilling tea and smashing pastries and snogged her like they were back on that accursed beach. When they finally broke apart, both were grinning like loons.

"How fast can you tell Torchwood?" he asked, an excited lilt to his voice.

"I already emailed my resignation this morning," she replied with a cheeky smile.

"Why, you…" She kissed him again before he could say anything else.


	2. The Doctor vs The Estate Agent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> House hunting with the Doctor was bound to be an adventure. No places or people described in this chapter are intended to represent any real place or person.

"….and the natural light is just amazing! It definitely highlights the charm of this well loved historic home. So Dr. Smith, any thoughts?"

The Doctor was definitely annoyed. Why couldn't they just sonic their way in and walk around the house on their own instead of being followed around by Abby the avaricious estate agent? Honestly, she's probably not even human and he told Rose that. Rose just patted him on the shoulder with that "yes, Doctor look" and finished completing the home finders questionnaire. A questionnaire! He the only Time Lord in existence in this universe was filling out a questionnaire! Oh, his inner alien was just screaming "Time Lord, thy name is Domestic."

He soon realized house hunting was more than just picking a place to sleep and keep your stuff. It was a test of endurance and a challenge to outwit the scheming estate agent who just wanted to shove them off in some domestic little abode and move on to the next victim well… house hunting human. Even the term "house hunting" evoked some primitive need to pursue the wild and untamed dwelling, capture, conquer and settle as your own. Such a basic human concept and yet it almost defines humans as a race. After all, this is what they end up doing -- building communities as they spread through the universe. He would not back down from this challenge. No Time Lord would be bested by the human process of house hunting! He just had to break this down into the science of finding a home.

First there was the language. He did love words so decoding the estate agent speak was easy for one who had mastered over 5 billion languages. For instance, "It has real charm" or "quaint" meant it was small and he better be handy (no pun intended) as things are probably going to fall down around him shortly after moving in. Another example, "a real fixer upper." Forget being handy, he better have a team of contractors ready to swoop in as soon as they close on the purchase and they can kiss moving in goodbye for at least several months. He did enjoy the part of the process where they drove the estate agent mad with a list of requirements that no human could possibly ever fulfill. Perhaps the best part was snooping around potential homes ridiculing the rubbish style of their owners and maybe, if he was lucky, discovering an alien hiding amongst the humans in the countryside.

So there he was listening to Abby the scheming agent witter on about the features of the sixth house on their list of potential homes while Rose wandered off. He really must have another chat with her about that.

"Abby, have you seen Rose?" the Doctor finally asked in the hopes of stopping her unending prattle.

"Oh, Ms. Tyler was just here. She really should not be wandering around on her own. It's against company policy and you both agreed to our policy when you signed in this morning," she stated in a cloying congenial manner. 

Immaculately dressed in a navy blue suit, Abby Thorn was one of the best estate agents at Attlebys. At least that's what Rose had mentioned. Apparently she catered to wealthy clients like Pete and he insisted they have the best agent helping them. Her reputation was that she never lost a sale and always found a home for her clients. The Doctor had rolled his eyes when they met her noticing the greedy glint in her eyes. Rose admitted Pete offered an financial incentive if she found a home for them that met their rather eccentric requirements. The Doctor fumed at that and decided to make the pandering agent work for it just to amuse him he reasoned. But really it was more than that. Something was off with her. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Doctoooor!" Rose's voice rang out.

Heart pounding, the Doctor reacted and sprinted up the staircase to the third floor, pulling out is new modified sonic screwdriver, while racing to Rose. Abby followed closely behind, amazingly enough, not even slowed down by the 4 inch stiletto heels.

"Yep, definitely an alien," the Doctor thought. No normal human woman could have dashed up three flight stairs in heels like those at that speed and not fallen, or at the very least, wobbled a bit.

The Doctor found Rose in a large bedroom at the end of the hall standing before seven foot tall bank of stained glass windows. The artistry of the design was awe inspiring -- a landscape of golds, reds and oranges dominated the scene and the light filtering through it cast a warm glow on the cream colored walls. Further enhancing the warm glow were gold gilt mirrors hung around the room which reflected the light throughout the space. The glow surrounded Rose in a way that made the Doctor think of another time he saw Rose glow with golden light. It was not a pleasant feeling for him. She smiled, spread her arms wide and spun around with joyful abandon.

"I love it!" she exclaimed. "It feels right, don't you think, Doctor?"

The stepped forward, his gaze taking in Rose and the room. He subtlety scanned the room with his sonic screwdriver as Abby stared at him with barely contained annoyance. Frowning at him she, straightened her Jacket and approached Rose pasting a fake smile on her face. 

"Of course the stained glass windows are one of the best details of this delightful historic home. They are original to the house. As you know, the house was renovated 15 years ago but many of the features from the original 18th century structure remain intact. The home was built on the foundation of a 13th century home which was destroyed in a fire so the grounds are even older than this structure. I do believe this home meets many of your requirements - a house with some history to it, large spacious rooms, abundant windows, rambling gardens, a greenhouse, and of course privacy. You can practically feel the walls whispering the secrets of this home's past to you."

The Doctor stopped, turned and looked at her. He walked over scanning her with the sonic screwdriver while asking her, "Really, you've been listening to time ooze from the walls and it only just now occurred to you to mention it?"

Rose grabbed the Doctors arm and dragged him away from Abby who's eyes glittered and narrowed at him.

"Sorry, Abby, he get's rude when he's excited," Rose apologized.

"Rude!" the Doctor exclaimed. "I'm not being rude, I'm investigating this obnoxious estate agent who just told us she can hear the walls talking. You see Rose, I told you she's an alien."

Abby glared them before continuing her sales pitch. "Yes, well, perhaps we should continue our walk-through. Dr. Smith is obviously excited to see more." She turned and walked out of the room as if the Doctor had not done a thing out of the ordinary. Apparently she was willing to overlook oddities in favor of a commission and bonus.

Rose crossed her arms and just looked at the Doctor.

"What!" he said as if nothing was wrong.

Rose smiled and shook her head. "Abby was just using a figure of speech. She can't really hear the walls saying anything. Course you and me, being us, we took her literal. So did the sonic show anything?"

"Oh, yes!" he said with glee. "This is definitely the place."

They both grinned and bounced up and down with excitement. Torchwood had many files on this house reporting hauntings and odd occurrences. As a result of the odd activity, no one had lived here in more than a decade. Rose and the Doctor had hoped they would find something like this during their walk through. Rose definitely had a feeling here that she couldn't quite pinpoint; she just felt warm and welcome and oddly enough at home. The house produced an energy and if you listened long enough, maybe just maybe, you could hear something more.

Abby popped her head back in. "Shall we continue?"

"Yes, definitely," Rose answered.

Hand in hand Rose and the Doctor followed Abby as she took them through each room of the house. The Doctor subtly scanned each room as the tour progressed. Abby ended the walk-through in the gardens which were overgrown and lacked the neat and tidy well manicured nature of most English gardens.

"Well, Dr. Smith, Ms. Tyler, isn't this just perfect for you! I must say, seeing the two of you here, I have no doubt this is your home. So, what do you think? Shall we draw up the papers?" Abby stated with eager anticipation.

"Well, Abby, let's not get ahead of ourselves," said the Doctor. He certainly wasn't going to let the scheming alien agent win that easy. "We haven't seen the basement."

"The basement," Abby replied slowly with a cold smile on her face. "The basement was not part of the renovation and the electricity doesn't even work down there so I'm afraid that's just not possible to see today. If you would like to put in an offer, I'm sure we can have an inspector out to review the property within the week."

"No, we want to see the basement now," the Doctor replied firmly with a smile that reflected no amusement.

"Well, if you insist, you do so at your own risk and I must ask you to sign a waiver releasing Attlebys and the owner from all liability for any injury you may sustain during your inspection." The Doctor could sense the tension radiating off of Abbey.

"Not a problem," chirped Rose. "Let's sign whatever so we can pop into the dark and dangerous basement," she said with just a bit too much enthusiasm, bumping her hip against the Doctor.

"Oh, don't be silly, I didn't mean to insist it was dank or dangerous," Abbey drawled. "It's simply a legality. You understand of course that Attlebys prides itself in maintaining a standard and complies with all legal protocol. I'll see to it that the waiver is sent to your solicitor first thing in the morning."

"But we want to see it now," the Doctor insisted with a hint of a whine.

"I don't carry waivers with me," Abbey said with a bite to her voice. "This will have to be handled through proper legal channels." A snide smile lit her face and the Doctor was sure she was enjoying making them wait and that would not do. Of course, Rose was clever and wouldn't put up with the agent's condescending attitude.

"Really," Rose said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Just a mo." 

Rose pulled out her mobile and phoned for back up. She almost hated to do it but this was too important to let go and besides, now she was annoyed with Abby and was almost seeing the Doctor's point. Maybe she was an alien. Pete answered right away. 

"Rose, is everything all right? I thought you were looking at the old Dutton Manor house today?"

"We are Pete but the agent says we can't go into the basement without some sort of waiver. Is there anything you can do?"

"Hang tight. I'll have this sorted momentarily." Rose smiled and rang off with Pete. She turned to Abbey with a smile and asked her to point out the stairs to the basement. Just then, Abbey's phone rang. Rose and the Doctor beamed leaning into each other as they watched Abbey's face fall and her manicured fingers tighten on her mobile.

"Yes sir. Of course sir." Abeey turned toward Rose and the Doctor. "Well it appears all the legalities have been handled. The stairs are this way." She led them through the house, into the kitchen, through the pantry to a chipped white painted door that looked as if it had not been opened in a very long time.

"It's all right, Abbey, we'll take it from here," Rose said with authority.

Abbey frowned and tapped her foot. "Fine, I'll just be in the study." She turned and left them to their exploration of the basement, her stilettos clicking as she walked away.

The Doctor turned to Rose. "Definitely an alien. Did you get a whiff of her perfume? Disgusting! Only an alien would wear pear scented perfume." Rose tried to stifle her giggle.

The Doctor aimed the sonic screw driver at the large rusty, dirt encrusted hinges and pulled on the tarnished brass handle. The door opened with a screeching and grinding noise. Musty air from the basement wafted out the opening. Using his screwdriver as a torch, the Doctor peered down into the darkened staircase. He turned back to Rose with a grin of such delight on his face. Oh how he missed this! Rose returned the same look and grabbed his hand as they slowly descended down the old stone steps into the bowels of the house, each step into the darkened passage bringing them closer to adventure and the unknown.

As the descended, they could hear a scurrying sound, like rodents running through the walls; and a damp chill settled over them.

"Definitely need to deal with the rodent problem," remarked the Doctor. Rose nodded, her grip tightening on his hand.

"Of course, I think that's the least of our worries," he mused.

"What you mean," replied Rose as she zipped up her jacket against the cool air.

"Oh, there's definitely something alive down here and I don't mean rodents," replied the Doctor. "I can feel the energy of this structure vibrating against my skin. And I don't just mean floating around in the air. It's in the stone and the walls. Can't you feel it?"

"Yeah" Rose replied staring downward into the darkness. "I don't know how. I can't explain it. I just know it's here. How long do you think its been this way?"

"Oh, this has definitely been here for a long time and when I say a long time, I mean a very long time. Possibly millennia. It's not just in the house or the basement. This is in the foundation or beneath the foundation. Perhaps in caverns beneath the house."

Finally they reached the stone floor of the basement. The darkness of this place was oppressive and Rose stayed so close to the Doctor she was practically clinging to him. He shined the screwdriver along the wall until he found a lantern. Luckily, it still contained oil and he was able to light it and handed it to Rose. They looked around the room which was nothing out of the ordinary. There were a few wooden benches and cupboards along with racks filled with wine bottles. The Doctor picked one up and blew off the dust.

"Ahhh, French Bordeaux bottled in 1952. It's probably vinegar by now." He put the bottle down and proceeded toward the back of the room. The basement appeared to be a wine cellar of sorts. Nothing unique about it, just a dusty, cold stone cellar that needed some work. The only extraordinary thing about the sub space was the odd sensation they both experienced.

As the Doctor poked at walls and shelving, Rose looked down at the stone floor. "Well, are you all right now with us working as consultants to Torchwood? I mean, you seem more relaxed and you have to admit, Jake did give us a great tip about this place."

The Doctor shrugged. "I was a scientific adviser to UNIT in the 1970s while I was trapped on Earth. I suppose maybe this isn't much different. At least we can choose what we help them with and how it's done."

"Someday, you're gonna have to tell me about your time a UNIT," Rose said, shaking her head as she frowned at some dirt built up around the wined racks.

"Hmmm," the Doctor replied while running his hands along a wall. Suddenly there was a rumbling noise and the sound of dirt falling and dust filled the air. 

Rose tensed and covered her face. "Doctor what's happening!"


	3. Darkness, Light and Revelations

Enveloped by a cloud of dust coating her from head to toe, Rose coughed and gagged, struggling to breathe and find her way to the Doctor.

"Doc, ugh uck. Doctor, ahhhk, Doctor, can you hear me?" Rose rasped. She could barely see anything through the dust with only the soft light of the lantern to guide her as she felt her way over in the direction in which she last saw the Doctor. Finally as some of the dust settled, she saw the faint blue glow of the sonic ahead of her.

"Rose, Rose are you okay?" the Doctor shouted, coughing and cursing.

"I'm here, Doctor," Rose replied with relief. "What happened, are you all right?"

"Oh, I'm fine. It was nothing -- really nothing. Can you find your way over here? I'm near the collapsed wall.

"Collapsed wall? You mean the wall fell in! Are you sure you're okay?" Her heart slammed in her chest and her stomach twisted at the thought he was hurt.

"Wellll, I may have helped the wall along a bit," he admitted. "And when I say a bit I really mean I might have resonated it, but only a little," the Doctor continued a bit sheepishly. He had been scanning the wall and determined that there was an empty space behind it. He was sure whatever was emanating the energy originated somewhere behind the wall and beneath the house. He had just adjusted the sonic to setting 456A7 when everything fell to pieces, literally.

Eventually, Rose made her way over to the Doctor who was leaning against a part of the wall that was still standing covered in dirt and rubble. Even his face was coated in grit. Even his gorgeous brown hair was dulled and caked by the filth of the collapse. Rose reached over and touched his shoulder.

"Hey, you sure you're all right?" she asked softly.

The Doctor peered up at her and started laughing.

"What!" Rose asked indignantly looking down at herself to try and determine what was so funny. The Doctor finally got hold of himself .

"It's just, you look like those mud people of Beleevus 5, only dry and crumbly," he answered, still snickering.

"Oh, really," Rose said dryly and cocked her hip out. "So you think that I look like a lump of mud that chased you around a planet for walking through their sacred mud flat without spittin in it." The Tyler glare of doom was firmly directed at him.

"Welll, maybe not," he admitted. "You're much cuter than a mud person and you smell much much nicer," he said in an attempt to redeem himself.

Rose rolled her eyes. "All right, enough of mud monsters, let's get to it. So what was so important that you had to knock down a wall and bury us in all this mess."

The Doctor bounced up and crawled over the debris to the gaping hole. "There's something down there." He picked up a small rock, dropped it and listened to it bounce down into the black depths. "Hmm doesn't sound like too bad of a drop off. We should be able to climb down easy."

Rose wrapped her arms around herself flinching as more dirt and rocks trickled down into the hole. "Shouldn't we get some rope and more lights?"

"Nope. We can't. The cave collapsed one of the walls near the stairs so there's no going back that way."

Rose pulled out her mobile and wiped at the screen. She still had a signal so if they did get stuck, at least she could call for help. The Doctor scuffed his trainers in the dirt, sniffing and looked back at hole.

"Sooo, you going to call for help or are you gonna trust me?" His voice was thick and his hands jammed into his pockets.

"Of course I trust you, Doctor," Rose answered without hesitation.

"It's just, well--" He drew out his words. "It seems... when we were traveling, you never questioned or looked elsewhere for help because you thought I might be wrong. You trusted that no matter where we were or what we did, I would always take care of you. I thought you understood that I'm still me. I may only have one heart but that doesn't mean I can't protect you." The Doctor looked up at her, his insecurity exceedingly evident on his face.

"I do trust you. I wouldn't be down here investigating if I didn't trust you," Rose responded, watching as he shuffled around and pulled his sonic out toying with it. "Yeah you are a bit different but then so am I. Torchwood taught me to always have options. I didn't have you here for a long time and I had to look out for myself. It's nothing against you -- just a habit. Truth of the matter is, you are so much more now. I'm sorry if I made you feel any less." Rose walked over and took his hand. "We all right?" she asked softly cocking her head to the side.

"Oh, you know me…" he started to say but was interrupted by a faint, haunting melody echoing from the gap in the wall.

"Did you hear that?" asked Rose. "That music -- I've heard it before."

The Doctor stilled and tugged her into his side. "Yes, I heard it. There's something down there. Definitely alien and--"

"What?" Rose asked, squeezing his hand, her senses tingling and her heart jumping at every little noise.

"Not of this universe." They looked into each others eyes and nodded in a silent agreement.

With care, they ducked through the gap in the wall. They moved downward with slow measured movements. Eventually, Rose's lantern gave out enveloping them in the darkness with only the Doctor's sonic to light their way. As they slid and climbed downward across dirt and rocks, the collapse turned into what appeared to be a system of tunnels and caverns. A yellow glow from deeper into the cavern system lit their way. 

The Doctor slowed and looked over at Rose. "It's too bright to be some form of natural bio-luminescence."

"Do you think it's from whatever made that music?" Rose asked but stared forward eventually stepping away from him mesmerized by the light. 

"Rose?" the Doctor asked laying a hand on her shoulder. "You okay? We could take a break."

"No, we should keep moving,: She responded without looking at him. "We have to get down there." 

"I think a break sounds like a brilliant idea." He tugged her back toward him. "Let's just sit here and catch our breaths,"  
the Doctor added while scanning Rose without her realizing. Something was off.

Rose quieted and focused on the path ahead of them. She seemed to ignore everything around her, sitting quietly focused ahead. The Doctor snapped his fingers by her ear and she didn't respond. 

Moments later she stood up. "I'm rested let's keep going."

The Doctor knew he didn't want to take one more step until he was sure Rose was all right. "Rose, look at me," The Doctor commanded softly. Rose turned and looked at him but her eyes were vacant. There was no joy or recognition.

"Rose, I don't know if you can hear me, but something's wrong," he said cupping her face in his hands. "I need to see what's happening to you. I'm sorry, but I really need to take a look up here." The Doctor gently tapped her temple.

Rose didn't respond other than to stare at him. "No, we have to keep going," she said in a flat tone.

The Doctor stopped her from moving and tugged her down to her knees and put his fingers to her temples. He closed his eyes and concentrated on her. The first thing he noticed was a golden light. Eventually a meadow appeared. It was carpeted with a soft green grass with vibrant purple flowers interspersed with daisies. In the distance he could see several TARDIS sitting in the meadow, all blue and all resembling his TARDIS.

As he walked toward the group of time ships, he saw Rose sitting in the grass amongst them wearing a white sun dress. She had a bouquet of yellow roses in a basket in her lap. He knelt down beside her.

"Rose, can you hear me?"

"Hello, my Doctor."

"Are you my Rose or just pretending to be her?" he asked.

"I am your one true Rose. I am the Rose of the present and future. The Rose who can change everything but only if you help me."

He hesitated rubbing at his face. He wanted to rage and demand his Rose be returned to him. But something about how this Rose looked at him, with a peaceful expression and the same light in her eyes caused him to bide his time.

"What is it that you are trying to change and how am I supposed to help you?" the Doctor asked.

"You already know the answer. You know of the imbalance -- the eternal struggle. You've seen the darkness and despair as well as the joy and hope. Throughout it all, you were the epicenter, the ending and the beginning of the story. You think you see the ending but do you really? You've always said there's hope and that you liked hope."

"Oh, you had to go and get all enigmatic, didn't you." He groaned and rubbed at his temples.

"It's not about me or you. There's so much more." She gazed lovingly at the TARDIS.

"I don't suppose you want to tell me why there are so many versions of my TARDIS here?" he asked, trying to make sense of all she said and all he was experiencing.

She smiled and looked up at him. "Why won't you admit what you already know to be true? You know what happened on Satellite 5 and yet you pretend otherwise. It was always coming to this."

"This? You mean me here beneath this house; here in this universe or the metacrisis?"

Now the Doctor was worried. The last thing he wanted to deal with was Bad Wolf or any references to Bad Wolf.

"Silly Time Lord, always trying to make things so complicated. Your Rose always saw through to the heart of things. The heart is the key isn't it?" She ran her fingertips over the rose petals in her basket.

He stared at her barely able to comprehend what she was implying. "No, I took it out of her. She's human!"

"Is anything ever as it appears?" she answered mysteriously.

A gentle breeze stirred the grass as he knelt next to her remembering and theorizing. "This is so much more beyond Rose, Earth and even me," he stated with a touch of fearful curiosity.

"Awww,finally, the Time Lord is seeing the heart of the matter." She tilted her head to the side smiling at him.

"Is Rose all right?" he asked, a slight catch to his voice.

"Why do you fear?" She shifted closer to him. "Rose promised you forever. You never believed that promise. Now you must believe it. You are not the same as you were and neither is Rose. Both have been touched by time. Both of have so much more to do but none of that will happen unless you choose to help me. You still have choice. I cannot choose for you."

"I can't choose until I know more and until I know Rose is safe and hat happened to her." His voice hardened until he noticed a silver leafed tree in the distand. "Are you suggesting she's not entirely human anymore. Is she more like me as I am now? What does this have to do with the entity beneath the manor? What do you really want?"

"Out of millions of births on Earth and other such worlds, a handful are born with the genetic capacity to be so much more," she responded picking at the grass before meeting his gaze.

"These humans may lead normal mortal lives and do nothing more than live and enhance the culture of their world; or, if the multiverse demands it, they may serve another purpose. A purpose far greater than their planet. It was no accident you met Rose." She reached over and ran the pads of her fingers down his cheek.

"Rose was meant to meet you and join with your TARDIS. Your ship knew the truth of it. Creatures of time are necessary for the continuity of the multiverse. They bring balance. As I said, you are the beginning and the ending. Everything is born, lives and dies. This is the natural cycle of the multiverse. When the multiverse is out of balance, chaos ensues and eventually all things come to their ultimate end. So many creatures of time have been lost; too many, and now the multiverse is in peril. Balance must be restored. You and Rose with the help of what lies beneath this house have the capability of restoring this balance, if you choose to do so."

The Doctor absorbed this information. He understood now even if he wasn't sure what to do with this information and what was the right thing to do. He had to talk to Rose, the real Rose.

"If what you're implying is true, why Rose and me? Why not the Doctor in our original universe?"

"He lacks what you have," she replied.

"He lacks what I have? What does that mean he wondered. He cleared his throate. "Uh sorry but what exactly do I have that he doesn't? I mean obviously he's full Time Lord, can regenerate and has the TARDIS."

"You are part human and more importantly, part Donna Noble, with all the flaws and benefits that come with being human and not just any human. Donna Noble was also touched by time and plays an integral role in the continuity of the multiverse. The full Time Lord will never understood."

"You're talking about intuition and feelings aren't you? These things are contrary to what it means to be a Time Lord."

Suddenly, the meadow was fading away and the Doctor felt himself pushed back into reality. He stared into Rose's tear-filled eyes.

"Doctor," she gasped as he pulled her into an embrace.

"It's going to be all right," he promised her. He knew now that they had to find the entity below them and quickly. They had to resolve this.

"I remember," Rose said. "We have to go. I feel it, Doctor. It's so alone and needs us."

The Doctor stood up pulling Rose with him. "Will you be all right if we keep going?" he asked, cradling her in his arms.

"Yeah," She nodded and wiped at a few tears. "let's go."

They quickly climbed down the crooked path, dropping down fallen rocks and heading toward the light making much better time than they did when the first left the basement.

Finally, they reached what appeared to be the bottom level. They temperature warmed but was not uncomfortable. Hand in hand, they walked down a smooth pathway until reaching an enormous cavern filled with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. In the middle of the cavern was a coral pillar similar to the coral in the TARDIS. They could see where tendrils of coral had grown up the walls of the cavern. The height of it was several stories and width was awe inspiring. They walked over and laid their hands against the rough tan coral sparkling in the glow. It hummed in delight to them. With a look of pure ecstasy on his face, the Doctor hummed along with the coral.

He turned to Rose to see that tears of joy cascaded down her face. "It’s so beautiful," she whispered.

"This old girl has been here a long time," the Doctor said in a warm voice.

"How did she get here beneath the Earth?" Rose asked, wonder sparkling in her eyes as she ran her hand over the rough coral.

"There was an explosion. A TARDIS fell through, space, time, the void and landed on ancient Earth here. It's amazing that she survived at all," he said in an awe filled voice. "She landed here, in the right place, at the right time and remained undisturbed for hundreds of thousands of years."

"What do you mean? I thought a TARDIS couldn't live without her Time Lord?"

"Yes, normally. But this Tardis is a little different and she landed on a developing world and not just a developing world, a world reverberating from temporal instability -- so much so that a rift was formed right here. That's how she survived. She's been feeding off of rift energy. Probably the same energy that has been causing the weird happenings in the manor house above us. Come to think of it, some of the haunting stories are probably her doing -- not intentionally mind you."

At first, Rose didn't know how to react and then, suddenly, she started to laugh. She laughed so hard tears were once again trailing down her face. The Doctor reached for her, concern furrowing his brow. 

Finally, Rose calmed down enough to look up at the Doctor. "But don't you get it?" she said, grinning. "We are buying a house haunted by a TARDIS! This could only happen to us. See, I told you it felt like home."

The Doctor broke out into an insane grin, grabbed Rose and swung her around, whooping with joy.


	4. Rose Learns She's Not A Mutant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who may not know, The Fly Was a 1958 movie made from a short story written by George Langelaan and then remade in 1986. It's a bit of classic 1950s horror.

The Doctor was leaning against the coral pillar, his arms wrapped around as much of it as he could with his face pressed against it absorbing everything about the lovely creature. His face was relaxed in a picture of joy and ecstasy. Rose was sat beside him leaning against the coral listening to its song almost drifting off to sleep.

The Doctor pulled a way and stood back. "I think she's gonna be all right. She's really quite pleased that we're moving in upstairs. Something's had her a bit worried though," he said running his hand through his hair. The Doctor looked down at Rose, "Hey you awake?"

Rose just hummed in response. Finally, opening her eyes, she asked, "Can you talk to her properly?"

"Well, it's not like talking. It's more like feelings and images. She's really happy that we're here, but it's more than that."

Rose was very quiet and pensive and finally responded, "'You mean because we're different."

"You remember that?" the Doctor asked softly.

"Yeah. I remember. I remember lots of things. Some beautiful, some not so beautiful." She ran her finger along the bottom edge of the coral before looking up at him. "How different do you think I am? I mean should I--" Her voice caught.

"There's no reason to worry." He knelt down beside her. "We don't know that anything is wrong with you. She just suggested you were different. Different may not be a bad thing. As a matter of fact, different can be brilliant!" The last thing the Doctor wanted was for Rose to feel alone and abnormal. She was his Rose, and that was all that mattered, and he would do anything to keep her safe and happy.

"Well, maybe we shouldn't say anything to Mum about this. It'll be bad enough to explain our house is haunted by a living TARDIS," Rose mused.

"I don't think we should tell Jackie anything, Rose. The fewer people who know about this, the better. We need to protect her. She may be beneath our home, well, the house that will become our home, but she is still vulnerable. She is a vast source of power and we have to protect her from being exploited by humans or anyone else who comes to this world."

"You sound worried. Is there something you're not telling me?" She shifted closer to him.

The Doctor sighed. He supposed they might as well talk about all of it. He just didn't want to burden her with too much all at once. "Rose, this living entity is what Time Lords used to make a TARDIS. Remember when I told you that a Tardis was grown? Well Time Lords grew these organic creatures of time who had the capabilities of channeling the vortex and manipulating it in such a way as to travel in space and time. The Time Lords harvested them and used them to construct the TARDIS you knew."

"You mean the Time Lords enslaved them!" Rose said with great outrage, standing up and began pacing.

"Well, I suppose you could see it that way depending on your point of view," he agreed and followed her. "The relationship of a TARDIS and her bonded Time Lord was a fairly intimate thing. Remember, the TARDIS is a bit telepathic. My TARDIS was a bit of a rebel and had a great deal of free will so I never had complete control over her and I know she enjoyed, well, enjoys traveling with me. That being said, I know that later models were cruelly modified to prevent a them from having any freedom. The Time Lords wanted more control. I guess if you look at what the Time Lords became at the onset of the Time War then yes, perhaps you could say they enslaved them."

Rose's cheeks flushed and she walked over to the coral and petted it protectively. "That's horrible! We mustn't ever let that happen again."

The Doctor smiled wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Well that's why we have to protect our great lady here. Actually, that sort of brings us to our next topic."

"Which is?" Rose questioned.

"The old girl here wants us to grow more TARDIS. Normally, they were raised on Gallifrey but since Gallifrey is gone, we have to think creatively. She thinks we can do it here due to the rift and of course there is also my brilliance and one more thing."

"What's the other thing?" Rose asked.

"You," he said, looking at her.

"Me, what do you mean, me! What could I possibly do? I don't know anything. I barely helped you fly your TARDIS." Her voice lowered and again she trailed her fingers over the coral in front of her sending positive thoughts to her.

"Oh, Rose, my brilliant Rose, you simply must give yourself more credit," he said with enthusiasm, bumping his shoulder against hers. "It's not always about a physical action. Sometimes it's about who you are."

Rose looked at him with a lost expression on her face. "I really don't understand."

"You're different. You were born different and when you joined with my TARDIS, you absorbed not just the vortex but a bit of my old girl along with it and that bit was like a missing puzzle piece in your DNA. It popped right in -- a perfect fit."

"But shouldn't that have killed me?" she asked nervously looking at her fingers. "I mean, I'm no genius or expert on genetics, but seems to me if you start messing about with someone's DNA, something bad is gonna happen. Sort of like that movie The Fly." She stilled and her eyes widened. "Oh, I'm not gonna turn into a mutant, am I!" Her mind wandered to the many horror movies about mutants that Mickey had dragged her to when they were teens.

The Doctor did his best not to laugh as he could see Rose was seriously upset. "Of course that's not gonna happen! Besides, even if it was a possibility, I'm here and not going to let it. Anyway, it's a bit late for that now. So where were we?" He tugged at his ear. 

"Oh, yes! Stubborn Rose foolishly rips open the heart of my magnificent ship and absorbs the time vortex, joining with the heart of my TARDIS and triggering a bit of her amiable DNA to get friendly with TARDIS DNA. I remove the time vortex but what's done is done. You don't die because the deadly energy has been removed but you bear the mark of it. The TARDIS saw the genetic anomaly in you and did her best to see that nothing bad happened to you by slowing down any harmful changes. Then you ended up here, away from the TARDIS' protection and things started to progress a bit faster. Did you notice anything odd after you arrived, like maybe a strange illness?"

"Doctor, I was in a really bad place after getting here." She stepped away from him, her chest tightening at the thought of the despair that had weighed her down. She turned back to him with a hint of that sadness glittering in her eyes. 

"I lost everything except my Mum and Mickey. Losing you was painful. So yeah, I was definitely feeling ill. Everyone thought it was just me being sad and getting used to a normal life back on Earth. Not to mention that some of the bacteria here's a little different. Mum got a bit sick as well. So are you telling me that what I was feeling may had more to do with what happened aboard the TARDIS?"

The Doctor shuddered at the thought of what could have happened to Rose. It all could have gone so wrong. He could just beat his head against a wall for not paying closer attention. She could have died and all because he wasn't more observant or perhaps it was because he just didn't want to know.

"Well, it's hard to say now but that is a theory. You probably wouldn't have noticed much of any change. Maybe you have a greater understanding of physics and you might absorb information a bit better but otherwise, you appear quite normal. Well, quite normal for being my brilliant Rose." He smiled broadly walking over and squeezing her shoulders.

"But you said that I changed and I can do something to help grow a Tardis. I still don't get it."

"Yes, well, you remember me explaining artron radiation and how all time travelers absorb it as a sort of background radiation?" 

"Yeah, go on." Rose nodded prompting him to continue.

"Well, you may have more of it than I would expect from a time traveler. A Time Lord like me has an excessive amount and as a Time Lord Metacrisis grown on board the TARDIS, wellllll, I may have a bit more than that. Artron energy will be a key in growing a TARDIS. So will Huon radiation which you also absorbed from the TARDIS."

Rose pursed her lips and frowned finally glaring at him as he patted her arms.

"Oh don't look at me like that, its fine and you are completely safe."

Rose continued to glare at him.

"But, it's more than that even!" He grew more enthusiastic. His eyes lit up reflecting his excitement. "I think deep down in your subconscious mind, you know more than you think you do. When it comes down to it, it’s gonna be instinct."

"So you're saying I got a ton of radiation inside of me and when its time, I'll just know what to do and how to do it? What like a some kind of comic book super hero? Oh, Mickey would have loved this," Rose said sarcastically.

"Super hero! No, no, no, nothing like that and it would be super heroine, Rose, heroine being the feminine of hero."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Are you lecturing me on comic book heroes?"

The Doctor ignored her and continued, "You are very important to the TARDIS, Rose, but you still have choice. It's up to you whether or not we do this. It has to be both of us…together."

Rose turned and looked up at the TARDIS coral, caressing it. "Of course I'll do it." She paused and then said, "Doctor I don't mean to scare you, but that's what the Bad Wolf said -- I bring life."

The Doctor had shivers going up and down his spine at her words.

"I told you, I remember everything," Rose reminded him.

They stood gazing at each other for a moment taking it all in when the Doctor grinned and tugged her into a hug before turning to the coral column. "Well, no sense dilly dallying around here. We've got places to go, TARDIS to grow and things to do!" His eyes widened. "Oooo, I like that! Places to go, TARDIS to grow! Ha!" He spun around in a cirlce. "Well, first things first. We need to secure the house and protect our new friend here." The Doctor gave the coral a friendly pat and reached for Rose's hand.

"So how we gonna get back upstairs?" Rose asked.

"Oh, you're gonna love this!" the Doctor replied with enthusiasm.

He pulled some bits and bobs from his very dimensionally transcendental pockets and started assembling them with his sonic screwdriver and eventually incorporating bits of coral into the new device. Rose stood there watching him and strangely enough, thought she recognized some of what he was doing.

"Is this like a transportation device?" she asked.

The Doctor looked up at her and said, "If by transportation device, you mean a Multispacial Transinducer with special sonic feature, then yes as it will sort of transport us from one spot to another although not through time, just space and how did you know that?"

Rose just shrugged. "Sort of just looked like it, I guess."

"Okkkkaaayy. I think that we might be getting just a bit of your instincts filtering through. You all right with that?"

Again, Rose just shrugged her shoulders, "Ya know, Doctor, as long as I'm with you, I think I'll be all right." Rose smiled and realized, yeah, she really did believe that, everything was okay, really really okay.

The Doctor quickly soniced the new Multispacial Transinducer which he quickly renamed the MST. "Done and fully functional," the Doctor said with enthusiastic pride. "So let's test this evidence of my sheer brilliance out!"

Rose looked bit her lip nervously. "Shouldn't we test it on something not us first?"

"Rose, I promise you it's completely safe… probably."

"All right Doctor but if we end up with switched body parts or stuck in Norway, it will be tea every day with my mum for the next month!" Rose said with just a the tiniest bit of threat in her voice.

Rose and the Doctor, walked hand in hand over to the TARDIS coral and placed their hands on the column. They felt the warmth and support of the coral and of each other. They slowly turned away and gazed at one another, realizing that once again everything had changed and they were looking forward seeing how everything would work out.

Rose stepped into the Doctor's arms and embraced him tightly, burrowing face into the crook of his neck. The Doctor returned her embrace, activated the MST and yelled, "Allons-y!"

The next thing Rose knew she was lying on a hard floor with the Doctor sprawled on top of her. Rose's head was throbbing and she had an unbelievable cramp in her left leg. The Doctor rolled off her groaning and squinting his eyes.

Rose looked over at the Doctor. "Yeah, completely safe all right and still a rubbish landing!"

"Rubbish landing! Rose Tyler, I'll have you know that was nothing short of amazing given the limited resources at our disposal other than my brilliance," the Doctor retorted, rubbing the back of his head.

All of a sudden they both heard someone clearing her throat impatiently. 

"Ahhh, yes, Abby the possibly alien estate agent," the Doctor stated, eyeing her tapping designer shoe.

"Do either of you have any idea the trouble you have caused?" Abby asked with annoyance.

The Doctor sat up and looked her up and down and said, "Nope, but I'm sure you're gonna tell us about it, aren't you."

Rose sat up as well and said, "I don't suppose you have a water on you?"

"Now you see here," Her voice had lost all its cajoling quality. "All you had to do was walk around and decide whether or not you wanted to purchase this house. That's it. But nooooo, you had to go mucking about in the basement. You had to raise inquiries into this place and drag Torchwood into it. You have caused me enough trouble, and now you are going to make it up to me. I know something happened in that basement. You were trapped down there for over a day and now you have miraculously appeared here. So now, Dr. Smith and Ms. Tyler, you are going to tell me exactly what you found and how you escaped."

Rose and the Doctor turned and looked at each other. Rose rolled her eyes, and the Doctor turned back to Abby the questionable estate agent. "Or you'll do what exactly?" he asked.

Abby pulled a gold pen from her pocket and aimed it at table next to Rose. A white shaft of light beamed out from it and neatly sliced the legs from the table and it crashed to the ground. She smiled at the Doctor and said, "I will start slicing off bits of Ms. Tyler until you tell me everything."

"Everything?" said the Doctor. "Well, if I were to tell you everything, we could be here for a while. Ya see, the thing is, Abby, you don't know me which means you don't know what everything means to me. For instance, you may know that Rose is important to me, but you don't know what I would do to anyone who threatened her." The Doctor stood up and stared at her with what Rose knew to be the Oncoming Stare.

Abby was not intimated or deterred in the slightest. "Just try me, Dr. Smith. I don't care about Ms. Tyler or you for that matter. You are both insignificant. I know there is something non-terrestrial in this house. It's powerful and I want it and I don't care what I have to do to get it. I don't care if she dies, you die or I have to exterminate all of London or half the planet. Now, I think you better start telling me exactly what you found. If you don't start talking, I start cutting." She aimed her laser at Rose.

But while Abby was ranting and focused on threatening Rose, the Doctor was inconspicuously sonicing the MST.

"All right, Abby, you want to know what's in the basement then I'll tell you," the Doctor said softly. "First, I need to know how technical to be with you. So tell me, Abby, exactly what are your qualifications? How basic do I need to be?"

"How dare you insult me, you tiny, primitive, rancid human! You couldn't possibly comprehend how much more advanced I am from you and the rest of this stinking race. Just being here dealing with all of you and your primitive drabbling requires an enormous amount of discipline. If it weren't for what's in this house, I wouldn't set foot on this back water planet much less interact with such an inferior species. Stop stalling and start talking, now!" Her eyes tinged green as she snarled at him.

"Ohhhh, Abby, you really don't understand," the Doctor said in a low growling voice. "This could quite possibly be the biggest mistake you ever made." The Doctor activated the now modified MST, and a tiny pinging noise sounded. The Doctor held up the MST and scratched his head. "It wasn't supposed to do that. That was a bit underwhelming, wasn't it."

Abby aimed the laser pen tried to activate her laser pen but nothing happened. The Doctor tossed the MST to Rose and ran at Abby. He head butted her and struggled trying to get the pen away from her. While he struggled, Rose got up and grabbed a grabbed a fireplace tool. When Rose saw her opportunity she whacked Abby over the head and she crumpled down to the floor. The Doctor stared at Rose stunned.

"Torchwood and their violent tendencies are rubbing off on you," he admonished as he pocketed the laser pen and gently took the fireplace poker out of Rose's hands. The Doctor looked down at Abby and noticed a flickering. Abby was wearing a shimmer device which was malfunctioning. Soon the truth of who Abby really was would be apparent.

Unfortunately for the Doctor and Rose, Abby's unveiling was interrupted.


	5. It's A Crime To Taunt a Fluffy Fezzby

"Ow! That hurt!" yelled the Doctor while gripping his head, his ears rang from the high pitched whine that filled the house.

"Don't move!" A guttural masculine voice commanded.

"Move, how can I move with my head throbbing like this," the Doctor responded, eyes shut tight as he winced at a dull ache between his eyes. "Who are you and what was that for?" The Doctor squinted before opening his eyes and examined his surroundings. Abby was collapsed on the floor, her shimmer now completely disabled. Rose was on her knees leaning over, hands gripping her head rocking back and forth.

"Rose! Are you all right?" the Doctor asked frantically. He tried to crawl over  but found he couldn't move. Whoever the intruder was, he used a Styppi which could paralyze parts of the body and the Doctor couldn't move.

"I'm okay," Rose moaned but she continued to grip her head and rock back and forth.

"Styppi are outlawed on Level 5 worlds." The Doctor's voice lowered as he sought out their attacker.  "And the Shadow Proclamation has restrictions on their use. Who are you?" 

A figure materialized before the Doctor. The creature had a humanoid shape but no distinguishable features other than being covered in an iridescent rainbow of colors. It was as if a blob of iridescence just decided to take the shape of a person. The creature waived its arm in front of the doctor, colors flaring as it did so and almost floating up and away from the appendage. After a pause, it spoke to the Doctor in a booming masculine tone.

"You and this female are not human or indigenous to this world. What is your purpose here?"

"I'm not answering anything until you identify your place of origin and species designation as provided by the Shadow Proclamation," replied the Doctor, in a deceptively calm voice.

"I am an agent of the Khata'al Alliance here on this world hunting a criminal from the Rapacious Conglomeration. I do not know this Shadow Proclamation. Identify yourself!" the creature snarled.

"I'm the Doctor and this is Rose Tyler and this world is our home," the Doctor responded with authority, tilting his chin up defiantly.

The agent pointed to unconscious alien Abby and said, "This creature is a criminal wanted on over 100 worlds for theft, piracy, destruction of Satellite Tek 6, embezzlement, dealing in endangered species, criminal use of the sacred chalice of Ute, blasphemy, taunting of the fluffy fezzby and tax evasion. Just being in her presence makes you an accessory to her crimes."

"Accessory? No, no, no, you've got it all wrong," The Doctor professed.  "The only reason we met with Abby here was to buy a house. That's all."  His tone lightened in an attempt to appear non threatening. 

"You know how it is, nice couple just out to find a lovely home to start our family.  I mean she seemed a little off but she's an estate agent." He winked at the creature who stood unmoving.  After clearing his throat, he continued.  "Well, you know how they can be.  Honestly, it wasn't until she pushed past the sales pitch and started threatening to kill us that we knew she was a bit shady. We had to wallop her over the head to convince her to let us leave. Really, we did you a favor. After all, we rather incapacitated her for you," the Doctor responded in his most charming voice.

"You and the female are not native to this world. You are accessories and will be remanded to the Khata'al Alliance for processing," the creature stated in a gruff tone.

"Ohhh don't do that! I hate processing! All those forms in duplicate and triplicate not to mention the everlasting interviews, evaluations and hearing after hearing. There must be some way to resolve this here," the Doctor said hopefully using his most persuasive voice.

"Perhaps we can provide you with some identification to prove to you that we are innocent and if anything, victims of this imposter estate agent," the Doctor suggested, a brilliant idea forming in his mind as Rose sat nearby subtlety reaching for her mobile.

"Produce identification," replied the agent.

"Okay, now I'm just going to reach into my pocket and pull it out slowly so let's not get carried away, shall we," said the Doctor in a calm voice.

"Slowly, any attempt to wield a weapon will result in death," the agent replied.

"Death, that's pretty extreme, don't you think?" the Doctor mumbled while pulling out his slightly psychic paper which he hoped would be enough to work on this creature. He'd liberated it during his one and only visit to Torchwood and had been working on enhancing it for a the last few months.

"Really, taunting the fluffy fezzby is a crime?" he mused as he handed over the slightly psychic paper. The Doctor focused on the paper to make sure it projected an acceptable identification and authority and hoped the Agent did not have any psychic training.  
The swirling colors on the Agent's appendage enveloped the psychic paper. After a few minutes, the paper flew back at him.

"Witness protection program confirmed. You and the female will not interfere or you will be detained."

Rose sighed and slid her mobile back into her pocked until her gaze landed on the MST which she slid toward her.  As she hid it in her lap, looked over at the Agent as it walked over to Abby who was starting to regain consciousness. Her attention diverted to Abby as she slid her fingers around the device in her lap. 

The first thing she noticed about the former estate agent was the numerous appendages. She was long and serpentine with three arm-like appendages on each side of her snake like body. Her skin was smooth and yellow-green in color with some striations of red throughout. Her head protruded from her body and was rounded more like that of a tortoise with two golden colored eyes and a lipless slit of a mouth. Rose wondered how she moved about erect like a humanoid without any legs.

Abby looked up and scowled at the Agent. She turned to Rose and the Doctor, who was now able to move over next to Rose.

"You can't let the bounty hunter take me. There won't be a trial, I'll be put to death the moment he dumps me at alliance headquarters."

Rose looked up at the Doctor. "If he's a bounty hunter, shouldn't he have some sort of warrant for her?"

"She was going to kill you Rose," the Doctor emphasized.  "And as I recall, she showed no regard for any human life." He directed a cold dark look at the Abby.

"But it’s still not right," Rose replied. "There's got to be some kind of legality otherwise aliens like this bounty hunter could come in and just take anyone." Rose tried to convince the Doctor emphasizing the word "anyone."

The Doctor sighed. "Fine." He turned and looked at the Agent who was binding Abby in restraints.

"Look, Agent whoever you are, the majority of settlements on this world believe in certain legal protocols that requires legal authority be produced before criminals are apprehended."

The Agent turned to the Doctor. "The Khata'al Alliance does not need to justify its actions to the inhabitants of primitive worlds or those hiding on such worlds. Be thankful I accept your identification and leave you to your concealment on this world."

The Doctor stared long and hard before slumping back toward Rose and leaning close to ehr. "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do without implicating ourselves and we have bigger issues at hand."

"But, I'm innocent!" Abby shouted. "I've been framed, as you humans put it. I may have had a few disagreements with authorities on a few worlds but I most certainly have not done all the things they allege. I only came her to steal alien technology that this world shouldn't have in the first place! I needed it to bribe the officials who have falsely accused me."

"But you threatened to kill the Doctor and me, not to mention half the planet," Rose reminded her.

"Oh I didn't really mean all that!"

"Enough," shouted the agent. "Transport arriving in 32 galactic zods."

"What's a galactic zod?" Rose asked.

"I'll explain to you later," said the Doctor. He turned to Abby, "Well Abby can't say its been a pleasure. Wish you had been honest with us, maybe we could have helped you."

Rose looked at her hands and had a thought. Suddenly she smiled and turned to Abby.  
"Ya know Abby, maybe you'll get a second chance; ya know, a chance to make things right. If you did, you'd be pretty grateful wouldn't ya?"

Abby scowled looking at her but then suddenly all the tension left her face and Rose would swear later, if a snake smiled, it would look like Abby looked right then.

"Yes, I might be grateful and …"

In a flash Abby and the Agent were gone.

"All right, what was that all about?" the Doctor asked as he helped Rose up.

"Just trying to give her a chance to do the right thing and maybe win us a little favor," replied Rose, a bit pleased with herself as she ran her fingers over the edge of the MST device.

The Doctor looked at the device and then Rose. "What?" he asked, examining the MST.  "You tinkered with it!" he exclaimed.

Rose had manipulated it so that it would weaken any restraining fields within a 5 meter radius which meant that a certain restrained fugitive may not have been quite so restrained when she was transported away.

"How'd you do that?" His eyebrows raised as he poked at the device.

"Not sure." Rose shrugged. "It's like when were down under the house, I just sort of knew. I think maybe our Lady TARDIS wanted me to help her."

The Doctor frowned. Sometimes he worried Rose was just too compassionate and trusting. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it this time. The Doctor looked around and looked back at Rose.

"What is it, Doctor?" Rose asked.

"She said we were gone for over a day. Shouldn't Torchwood be looking for us? Rose, hand me your phone."

Rose pulled out her mobile and handed it to the Doctor. The Doctor put on his brainy specs and examined it with his sonic and found that someone had interfered with the GPS and the phone signal. He looked at Rose and smiled. "I think our new friend from down below didn't want anyone to find us."

"All right but still, wouldn't they have come looking for us?" Rose asked.

They walked out the front door of the house and found that Rose's BMW was gone. Rose turned to the Doctor. "Alien Abby nicked my car!" Rose cursed and stormed out toward the driveway.

"No good deed goes unpunished," replied the Doctor.

"I wonder what else she did while we were gone?" Rose worried.

The Doctor stood their staring out at the sky, a dark look coming over his face. "It's not over, Rose, I can feel…"

Rose rushed over toward him. "Don't you dare say you feel a storm coming!" 

He looked down at her, his face softening. "Oh, Rose, I'm never letting that happen again." He pulled her into his arms, and she pressed her lips against his in a gentle kiss which deepened. Adventure always seemed to spark passion for them. Rose broke the kiss and looked back at the house.

"Guess we better call Torchwood and let them know we're okay," she mused.

"Hmm," was all the Doctor said.

"Whatcha thinking?" Rose asked.

"Rodents."

Rose winced and looked around as she curled up to his side.  "Yeah, what about them?"

"We have to get rid of them. Remember, they're in the walls in the basement. We can't exactly call an exterminator with our lady down below, now can we?"

Suddenly the Doctor got a grin on his face. Rose saw that smile and just knew it was trouble.

"Rose Tyler, did I ever tell you about the time on I visited the town of Hamelin in 1284 and saved the town from a hoard of rats using nothing more than a sonic and a flute?"

"Like the pied piper?"

The Doctor rocked back on the balls of his feet and grinned. "Welllll, maybe the part of disposing of the rats. The rest was rubbish made up by the Brothers Grimm who may have had a bit of grudge against me," he explained while tugging at his ear.

"You're kidding, right? Uh, Doctor? Where you going?" she asked as he bounced toward the house. "Doctor, no!  We have to call Torchwood!"

The Doctor quite gleefully ducked into the house. Rose sighed and pull out her mobile. Yes, she had to fall in love with the alien genius obsessed with everything being a little more sonic and who now had an unhealthy obsession with sonically removing rats from their new home. She sighed, smiled and knew she wouldn't have it any other way.


	6. Mystic Dreams and Rude Aliens

"Really Rose, I just don't know how the two of you manage to find so much trouble being you're here on Earth instead off traveling the universe," Jackie said as she sipped her tea.

"It's not our fault, Mum. It's not like we knew the estate agent was an alien. It just turned out that way," Rose answered, watching the tea swirl in her white mug.

Jackie shook her head. "The two of you went missing for two days before you rang us. And how did we find the two of you? Covered in muck, laughing and carrying on in that old place like it was nothing -- like we weren't worried out of our minds over you. And why were you even looking at a place so far away? Don't you think it's a bit large for just you and the Doctor?"

"I'm sorry I didn't call sooner but my mobile was jammed." Rose sighed and shoved the mug back and forth between her hands. Not even the clink of dishes as cook assembled butter biscuits could distract her from her mother's heavy glare. "I called when I could." She reached for her mother's hand. "The Doctor and I just made the best of it, and we love that house. Living in the flat is just killing the Doctor," Rose emphasized meeting her mother's piercing gaze.  "He's used to so much more room and constantly being on the move. Dutton Manor will give him plenty of room to wander and he can have his own study to write and tinker. He needs it, Mum," Rose pleaded. "The flat was fine when I was alone and working on the Dimension Cannon. I didn't need much then, but this place will be ours. And besides, someone experienced with rifts needs to be living there."

Pete walked into the kitchen, set his briefcase down and pulled a chair up to the table. "Looks like there were several aliens masquerading as estate agents at Attlebys. We still don't know everything they were up to but it's looking like they were petty criminals and con artists." Jackie shook her head and reached for he tea.

His eyes crinkled as he directed an amused look at Rose.  "You and the Doctor helped us break up quite a crime syndicate. We think Abby knew about the rift and her plan was to sell the house and wait for the owners to disappear or run off and then step in to sell it again. She and Attlebys could have made a fortune from that scam."

Rose looked down at her tea. She and the Doctor had glossed over the details and only told Torchwood about being trapped in the cellar; the rift being there; Abby being an alien and being taken away by the bounty hunter. She felt a little bad not telling the complete truth to her Mum and Pete but she believed the Doctor was right. It would be too dangerous for everyone if they knew the whole truth.

"Don't suppose there's any word on my car?" Rose asked hopefully.

Pete nodded as he reached for his briefcase and pulled out his tablet.  "When we didn't hear from you, we tracked your GPS.  We found your car in a field about ten kilometers from the house.  Abby claimed that you and the Doctor had left the house about an hour after your appointment. We think she abandoned your car in the field with an alien artifact to try and distract us."

"Well, at least I can get my car back." Rose brightened at this thought.

Pete rubbed at his neck. "I'm sorry, Rose. It was contaminated by the artifact. We had no choice but to quarantine it."

"Quarantine! But what am I supposed to do!" Rose lamented, tugging at her hair and thinking maybe she regretted helping alien Abby.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll take care of it." He squeezed her shoulder.

This didn't make her feel any better. She knew Pete wanted to help. He'd always been generous and sympathetic to her. But she never wanted to take advantage of his generosity.

"Thanks Pete, but it's just not right. You've done so much for us already," Rose said softly.

"Nonsense! If it wasn't for you and the Doctor, we wouldn't be a family." He exchanged an affectionate look with Jackie. "And after all you and the Doctor have done, I want to. Torchwood appreciates the two of you moving into the Dutton Manor. With its history and considering it sits on a rift, we can't allow anyone else to live there. You really are doing us a favor," Pete reminded her.

"Well we appreciate you helping us out." Rose said hoping she was conveying her gratitude. "At least after all this bad publicity, the manor is practically a steal. It's not like they can ask a ransom for it now," Rose said, starting to smile.

"Not to worry. I've asked my solicitor, Mr. Jones, to handle the details,"Pete assured her, tapping at his is tablet. "We'll get the purchase completed as quickly and quietly as possible. I know you and the Doctor are anxious to get settled, especially after all this excitement."

"Thanks, Pete, we really appreciate it," Rose told him warmly and leaned over to hug him.

"So where is himself?" Jackie asked as she cleared away their mugs.

"You know the Doctor. I can't keep him still. I think he went outside to play with Tony," Rose said as she looked out the window.

"No worries, Love. I'll get the boys while you and Pete work out the details regarding the house."

Jackie stepped into the garden watching Tony chase the Doctor around. She smiled and couldn't help being happy that she had both Rose and the Doctor here. Although he had caused her heartbreak and grief early on, she loved him with all her heart. He had done so much for Rose and given Jackie a second chance with Pete, well alternate Pete. Still, not many people had this kind of chance at happiness and she wasn't going to waste it arguing with him over Rose. Of course, that didn't mean she was going to make things easy for him either.

"Doctor! Tony! Time to come in!"

"Awwww do we have to!" whined the Doctor.

"In now, shift!" Jackie ordered, her hands on her hips.

Tony ran up to Jackie, gave her hug and ran inside. The Doctor followed behind slowly making his way back up to the house. When he reached Jackie, he stopped at her pointed look.

"So, you took my daughter to a haunted house with an alien up to no good," Jackie accused with a fierce Tyler glare.

The Doctor swallowed hard and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Now, Jackie, it wasn't like that."

Jackie interrupted him. "Wasn't like that! Come on, the two of you were almost buried alive. Don't forget the house is haunted and who knows what else could of happened. You promised me you would always bring her home to me. You haven't forgotten that have you?"

The Doctor stilled and solemnly looked Jackie in the eyes. "Rose is my priority now. I'll never let anything happen to her. That house is our home, mine and Rose's, our sanctuary. Nothing, not Torchwood or anything, will stop me from seeing to it that Rose is safe and happy."

Warmth flushed through Jackie and she wrapped the Doctor in an embrace before pulling back and pinning him with another fierce glare. "Good. Just you remember, anything happens to her then you have me to deal with and I will be ten times worse than Torchwood. Now come on, cook just pulled fresh biscuits from the oven."

"Ooooo, biscuits! What kind?" the Doctor asked with eyes lit up in excitement, not only for fresh biscuits but for an end to an uncomfortable conversation with Jackie.

dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdw

Two weeks later, Rose and the Doctor were boxing up their flat in preparation for the move. Well, Rose was boxing, the Doctor was examining each and every item and keeping up a running dialogue of comments of what they needed each item for and wouldn't it be better if he improved each thing.

"Let's take a break. Fancy a cuppa at Starbelle's?" Rose said as she stretched, ready for a rest.

The Doctor jumped up, grabbed his brand new tan colored trench coat which he found in second hand shop while Rose was running an errand at Torchwood. The day that Rose saw him in that coat was emotional for both of them. He'd asked her what she thought and with a hitch in her voice she answered the standard, "I love it." It was a moment filled with memories and hope for the future.

As they left the flat, tears pricked Rose's eyes and she couldn't help but think this was the last time they would leave the flat together to have tea at Starbelles. It was like she could see their lives stretching out before them but simultaneously she was focused on this particular moment. It was special and she wanted to memorize every detail.

"You're a bit quiet. You okay?" the Doctor asked, wrapping his arm around her waist as she paused in the doorway.

"Yeah, just thinking how this part of our lives is ending and when we move to the manor, something new is beginning. Just don't want to miss any of it," she said with a smile.

He pulled her tight against him, inhaling her scent. She was so in tune with everything and becoming more intuitive with the flow of time and the physical world around her every day. Oh, but he was so lucky to be here with her.

At Starbelles, Rose enforced the single pastry rule. As they settled down, the Doctor decided they should have a discussion about the upcoming move.

"Rose, we need to be sure we keep a close eye on the movers. I don't want them to be left unattended. I'm a bit concerned about security."

"What do you mean? Are you worried about someone like Abby coming back?" Rose asked her brow furrowed with concern.

"She may not have been the only one interested in Dutton Manor," he answered biting into an almond pastry. "I just want to be cautious. Until I have security measures up, we need to take care."

"How long before you have have us fixed up?" Rose asked, licking scone crumbs from her fingers.

"Oh, it won't take long, but I will have to check the house for any monitoring devices. Don't want Torchwood or anyone else snooping. Until then, we need to be careful what we say and do in the house." The Doctor's eyes lit up. "Oh, I know! Let's have a secret code, I love secret codes!"

"A secret code for what? Our friend in the basement?" Rose asked.

"Yes! Oh, let's see, how about the Matriarch, nooo, too formal and people might think we're hiding Jackie in the basement." The Doctor shuddered at the thought as Rose snickered across the table.

"How about TCB, its an acronym for temporal creature below," Rose suggested.

"Oh, an acronym,! How very humany!" the Doctor exclaimed. "I think I like it, TCB, TCB, how does it sound, Rose?"

"I think it's lovely!"

"TCB it is then."

After Starbelle's, they went back and continued their packing. That night, Rose was exhausted and went to sleep leaving the Doctor to his puttering and projects. After settling down into a deep sleep, she began to dream…

Rose was lying on a chaise lounge beneath the ornate stained glass window in their new master bedroom. She was wearing silk cream colored lounge wear which glowed in the golden and amber light filtering through the window. A book lay face down on her lap. A sweet, soft melody was floating through the room reminding Rose of soft violins mixed with the sound of the singing waterfalls of Aquaria. Orange ceramic vases in the room were filled with daisies and purple iris. A breeze blew the door to the bedroom open beckoning Rose to explore. Rose set the book aside and slowly walked barefoot from the room and into the hall. She followed the music, walking down the main staircase through the great hall into the solarium and out to the garden.

Flowers bloomed with every color imaginable but seemed to be dominated with anything the color of purple. Rose inhaled the sweet scent of jasmine and walked further into the garden. Suddenly, she found herself in a garden maze but she didn't know how she came to be there. With measured steps, she meandered through the maze trailing her fingers along the the waxy green leaves of the bushes. She reached a divergence in the maze where the path split into two options. At the split, sat a small white furry creature which looked like a koala bear with wings. It peered at her with large dark eyes and picked up a banana in its paws.

"Would you care for some? I hear it’s full of potassium," it stated in a sharp toned voice.

"Uh, thanks but no. Do you know where we are by any chance?" Rose asked.

"That's not the right question, Rose Tyler," Her furry little friend answered while taking a bite of banana.

"All right, what is the right question then?" Rose asked.

"How can you not know?" it asked with a sarcastic snort.

"Because I don't. Who are you anyway?" she demanded, crossing her arms.

"I'm the Esteemed First Prime Fluffy Fezzby," it replied with a haughty tilt of it's head.

"Am I suppose to be impressed?" she asked and cocked a hip out.

The Fluffy Fezzby shook it's fur out and flared its wings and replied, "I should think so! I don't just appear to anyone you know! And I am in high demand!" It sniffed and settled itself back down. "Now, since you seem to be a bit clueless, I will try and simplify it for you."

"Rude!" Rose muttered. "You might be all esteemed and wise but you could use some manners."

The Fluffy Fezzby rolled its eyes and sighed. "Fine! Gentle Rose Tyler, may I suggest you think about all that has happened to you since you first met the Doctor. Now, certainly even you must see that everything that has occurred was based on choices you made."

Rose pondered this statement. Yes, she certainly could see how some of the choices she made affected how things had happened. She chose to grab that chain under the London Eye and save the Doctor; she said yes to traveling with the Doctor; she chose to stay with the Doctor after their first trip even though it was all a bit overwhelming; she touched the Dalek in Van Statten's museum; she grabbed the rope to the barrage balloon which is how she met Jack; she chose the Doctor over Mickey time and again; she chose to go back for the Doctor at Satellite 5. Oh, wait. Satellite 5, that was a bit important. Now it all started to play out before her like a movie, only a movie flying by at high speed.

"Finally!" shouted the Fluffy Fezzby. "You are starting to see."

"You said I didn't ask the right question. I think I know what that means now. How will I find my way? How will I know what to do next?" she asked, looking at the Fezzby.

"You will find your way when you learn to sing," it answered mysteriously.

"But I don't know what that means!" Rose huffed in frustration.

"Look, it's not my job to explain, only to guide. You're the one that merged with the Doctor's TARDIS and absorbed the time vortex. You figure it out!" it replied with a bit of snark.

"Great, I'm stuck here with a cryptic fluffy alien with attitude and I'm suppose to know what to do," Rose moaned. She sighed, "All right there are two paths on either side of you, can you guide me as to which one to choose. I mean is one the path to doom and one the path to happiness?" she asked.

"As your choices have placed you on the path you now stand, choice shall determine your future. You must choose and no one may choose for you. Be warned, choosing is not always easy and the easy choice is not always the correct one. What has guided your choices in the past, Rose Tyler?"

Rose thought about this. She had always chosen based on her feelings and instincts. She knew she had to save the Doctor because it was the right thing to do; she knew she wanted to stay with him because it felt right and she couldn't imagine her life without him; she touched the Dalek because it was lonely and she didn't want it to be alone; she grabbed the barrage balloon rope to save a child who sounded lost and in trouble; maybe she chose the Doctor over Mickey because she knew that Mickey didn't really need her but the Doctor did; and finally, she couldn't leave the Doctor to die because she loved him and she could never abandon someone she loved to stand against the terror of the Dalek army even at the cost of her own life. Yes, she understood, love, compassion, empathy and sacrifice.

She turned to the Fluffy Fezzby, "Thanks, your eminence, you really have helped me. Sorry I didn't see it earlier."

"Well, it's about time! Honestly, it's so obvious! Most species would have seen it by now," the Fezzby ranted.

Rose just looked at the rude and indignant little fluffy creature and laughed.

"Do you mock me!" it exclaimed.

"Oh, noooo," Rose answered, remembering how one of Abby's crimes was mocking the Fezzby. "It's not you, it's just me and this whole dream. Thanks again for your help. It all right if I move along now?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Fine, paltry human, be gone. I have other creatures to guide and better things to do rather than linger around a human's dream state." With, that the Fluffy Fezzby disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

Rose took a deep breath and took a step down one of the paths. As she walked, she began to once again hear the music. She found herself starting to hum to match the melody. Soon she started to smell something. She wrinkled her nose and realized, it smelled like peanut butter. The scent of it became overpowering and she heard one of the bushes saying her name over and over "Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose." One minute she was in the garden, the next, sitting up on her bed with the Doctor beside her, nose to nose.

"Doctor!" she exclaimed. "Why'd you wake me up, I was having this dream," she said sleepily and yawning.

"It's moving day, Rose!" The Doctor bounced up and down on the bed.

"Right," Rose said, rubbing her eyes. She looked at the clock and saw that it was 7:00, might as well get up. They needed to be at the solicitor's by 9:00.

"Doctor, do you smell peanut butter?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, I thought I would try peanut butter and jam toast for breakfast," the Doctor replied, smacking his lips.

Rose grimaced. That did not sound appetizing. She decided to shower, finish packing and grab a bite to eat on the way to the aolicitor. The Doctor could finish packing while she was getting ready. She needed a hot shower and some alone time to think about her dream.

At the solicitor, Rose thought she was going to have to tie the Doctor to the chair but strangely, he seemed fascinated by all the papers spread over the table.

"Doctor, you doing ok with all this?" Rose asked.

The Doctor removed his glasses and looked seriously at Rose. "You know, on some worlds this is a form of torture. Making people sort through endless papers and signing over and over again. A true bureaucratic nightmare! Just think of all the beautiful trees you lot put down just so we could be here signing some useless, meaningless drabble for a legal system that will be completely re-written in the year…”

Rose put her finger on his lips. "Doctor, fingers on lips," she said quietly.

Just then, the solicitor, Ianto Jones, walked in. Rose and the Doctor just stared and the dark haired, blue eyed man who was just a little familiar in his black suit. Finally, Rose pulled herself to together and shook his hand. The Doctor sat back in the chair and put his brainy specs back on, looking Mr. Jones up and down.

"So, you are here to see that our purchase of the old Dutton Manor happens smoothly and legally I take it," the Doctor said to Mr. Jones.

"Yes, Doctor, I have been apprised of yours and Ms. Tyler's situation. I'm quite familiar with this transaction and the special circumstances. Do you have any questions?" Mr. Jones asked in a quiet, professional manner.

"Oh, I always have questions!" the Doctor responded and bounced in his chair.

"We're fine, Mr. Jones," Rose inserted. "If you could just point out any restrictions or limitations to anything we might be needing to do to the house and where we need to sign, we'll be out of here quickly," Rose said, hoping to cut off any Doctory ramble.

"Yes, ma'am. Due to the special nature of Dutton Manor, the United Planetary Council has designated you and the Doctor as SA1 (Special Ambassador 1) which means that you are official representatives of Earth and may take certain limited actions for the protection of the planet," Ianto informed them. "Specifically, this means monitoring and securing of any spacial temporal rifts on Planet Earth. There will be no restrictions to any modifications you need to perform on the Manor."

The Doctor turned to Rose and said, "Oh, we're doomed now! The planetary bureaucracy has found, categorized and labeled us, and given us an acronym! See humany!"

Rose put her head in her hands, took a deep breath and turned to Ianto. "Thanks, Mr. Jones, I think we understand. Does any of this come with any strings attached? You know, do they want to inspect us or something? The UPC may think this house is some huge planetary security risk but to the Doctor and me it's our home."

"As long as you and the Doctor keep things under control and prevent any mass destruction or alien invasion from escaping the rift, the UPC would prefer that Dutton Manor matter be kept as quiet as possible," Ianto said, stacking papers in front of him. "Mr. Tyler has been appointed as your liaison with the UPC. I have been asked by the UPC to reiterate the need for discretion in this matter. Will that suffice?"

The Doctor scoffed but Rose was relieved. The last thing they needed was bureaucrats demanding a tour. Rose asked Mr. Jones to point out the specifics so they could sign and leave. By this time, the Doctor's patience was wearing thin and he had already started examining the crystal paper weight on the table and Rose was just waiting for him to start sonicing it. She knew time was of the essence and she needed to get him out of there before something exploded or he decided to start improving the fountain pens. It was a tremendous relief as she watched the Doctor violently scratch his signature across the page of the last document.

"Congratulations, Ms. Tyler, Doctor. I hope you enjoy your new home and should you require assistance, in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me."

Rose and the Doctor practically ran to her new car, a TARDIS blue 1961 MGA roadster that the Doctor picked out. They raced back to Dutton Manor, keys in hand.

"Home at last!" the Doctor exclaimed as they burst through the doors. He walked over to one of the walls and gave it a gentle caress. Rose just marveled that some things never changed. She walked over and wrapped her arms around him. They stood in the entryway, listening to the pleased hum of their lady beneath the house. But then their quiet enjoyment was ruined with the sound of Rose's mobile.

Torchwood, now they were in trouble.


	7. Drenched in Temporal Conundrums

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Torchwood Missions never go as planned, especially not with the Doctor there. I love Malcolm and he will be a continuing character who will pop up in the sequel.

"Stop your whinging!" Rose chastised as the Doctor huffed and wiggled in the seat next to her. "It won't take us long. We just have to make sure that Jake doesn't blow up London."

The entire car trip had been all about him complaining. Rose knew he didn't want to leave the new house but Torchwood wouldn't call unless it was important. Thus, with her pouting Doctor in tow, she was forced to drive the new sports car. The car was the Doctor's latest pet project and he was a bit protective of it. Rose noticed he winced every time she shifted gears, which she supposed was better than the incredible oncoming pout he had been sporting ever since they left Dutton Manor.

"Doctor, we'll be there in about 45 minutes and I know we'll have this sorted in no time."

The Doctor sighed, looking off in the distance. He was so ready to start working on securing the house so they could focus on the TCB. He knew the old girl was anxious for them to get settled so they could focus on their project. He had an enormous amount of work ahead of him putting the house in order. And then there was collecting the odds and ends he would need to manufacture and build equipment for supporting the old girl not to mention working on a TARDIS nursery. He needed to get Rose up to speed on several key elements of this project and he couldn't do that with Torchwood popping in at the most inopportune moments.

"Weren't the movers scheduled for this afternoon?" the Doctor asked grumpily.

"Yeah, but they've been delayed. Besides, it's not like we had a whole lot of things to move from the flat." Rose looked over it him again, worried that this whole Torchwood thing would blow up.

"Ya know, while we're there, maybe we could pick up supplies so we wouldn't have to go out tomorrow," Rose suggested helpfully.

"Fine, we save Jake, get supplies and head back so we don't have to leave again until we've made progress," he agreed in a lighter voice.

They could never stay mad at each other for long, especially when the argument was about getting into or out of an adventure. When they arrived at town on the outskirts of London they found Jake and his team had secured an area around a fountain. Rose and the Doctor nodded at Jake's team and headed straight over to him.

"All right, Jakey my boy, what have you got for me!" the Doctor asked, once again regaining his enthusiasm.

"Doctor, Rose, sorry to interrupt your settling in but we had reports of people disappearing around the fountain here and came to investigate. Dr. Taylor has detected an odd radiation in the area of the fountain which we pinned down to something that appears to be stuck to the side of the statute. It's weird. We know it's there but we can't see it."

The Doctor put on his glasses and walked around the fountain, examining the statute from a distance. He came back to Rose and Jake. "Well, at least it's not an Angel," he said with relief.

"What's so bad about Angels?" Jake asked with curiosity.

"Welll, it's a long story. Let's just say if you come across a stone angel, well, don't just don't."

Jake looked at Rose. She shrugged and started to examine the statute herself. The Doctor grabbed her arm.

"Not so fast. There's something off here." The Doctor focused on the fountain, keeping Rose at this side before they made their way over to Dr. Taylor. 

While Rose chatted with Malcolm and the Doctor examined readings, he decided they needed to take a closer look. He stepped over the rim of the retaining wall into the water and sloshed his way over to the statute at the center. It was made of white marble and was a replica of a mermaid on a pedestal held up by a column with three young men leaning against it. Beneath them at the water level four young girls each holding an urn looking down at the pool of water. 

The water cascaded from beneath the mermaid over the pedestal gently running down past the young men and maidens into the pool below. The Doctor leaned toward the base of the column behind one of the maidens. Cocking his head to the side he could see something out of the corner of his eye.

"Somethings off," he muttered before tapping into his Time Lord senses to try and see past what he was sure was a perception filter.

Rose and Jake walked up beside the Doctor, followed by Dr. Taylor, still holding his scanning equipment.

"Aha! There you are! You gorgeous piece of technology!" the Doctor exclaimed.

Jake, Rose and Malcolm all looked at him.

"What?" Rose asked. "I don't see anything."

"Yeah," replied Jake. "What should we be seeing?"

Malcolm made an adjustment to his scanner. "Doctor, does this have anything to do with the radical fluctuation of the electromagnetic temporal refraction? It appears to be off the scale. We've never seen anything like this before," Malcolm remarked in his most excited scientific jargony way.

The Doctor arched a brow at the scientist's enthusiasm. Malcolm was actually quite insightful and intuitive for a human of this century. And the Doctor was amused at how the scientist seemed to fumble with his words around him. He walked over and took a look at the latest of Malcolm's readings.

"Malcolm, one day you must tell me what inspired you to build this mechanism. It's primitive but lovely in a humany kind of way," the Doctor complimented. "You're on the right track with this technology but the power source is all wrong and where did you get the crystalline wavelength sensor? That particular sensor was never designed for this type of application. It's usually found in a Barcelonian version of a DVR and when I say Barcelonian I mean the planet, not the city."

Malcolm blushed, but appeared happy to have someone of the Doctor's superior intellect with whom to discuss his creation. Rose had mentioned to the Doctor how most of the supervisors at Torchwood never seemed to understand the complex theoretical spacial temporal physics involved in most of Malcolm's projects. The Doctor couldn't deny he was a little jealous of how Rose spoke of Malcolm and especially when she admitted Malcolm worked on the Dimension Cannon with her. She mentioned how it had been the culmination of years of theoretical study and lab work for him even amongst constant neigh sayers. 

It warmed him to to know that Malcolm was her support and a shoulder to cry on. When she landed in the parallel world where the Doctor had died, it was Malcolm who took her aside and told her not to give up, that in science, each failure was an opportunity to learn and formulate new hypothesis. She'd even taken Malcolm with her to Donna's parallel world and showed him the TARDIS. It touched the Doctor imagining his Rose helping to make the scientist better just like she'd helped him. Through Rose, he felt a connection to Malcolm Taylor who seemed to have a bit of a crush on the Doctor and often followed him around with effusive babbling. The case at the fountain was no exception.

"Really Doctor! I must hear more about that. You see, this crystal was expelled from the Cardiff rift and sent to London for further study. Doctors O'Neal and Carter were just going to classify it as useless and dump it in a bin with miscellaneous unidentifiable bits, but I knew I had to examine it further. You see, you have inspired me, Doctor! Even the most insignificant item can be a source of beauty and a useful tool," Malcolm excitedly exclaimed while bouncing from foot to foot.

"Riiiight." The Doctor nodded "Well, Malcolm, let's see if we tweak some of these bits so we can fully reveal the device that someone has tucked away in this fountain," the Doctor responded, a little uncomfortable with Malcolm's obvious adoration.

"Doctor, do I need to clear more of the area? Is this thing dangerous? I mean, is it gonna explode or zap us into the future or the past or something?" asked Jake, darting nervous looks around and needing to do something rather than stand there watching Malcolm and the Doctor tinker with a device that for all Jake knew, could implode and suck them into another dimension.

"Naaawww, it'll be all right… probably," remarked the Doctor as he continued to work on Malcolm's scanner.

"Rose, is he serious, should we be worried?" Jake whispered to Rose.

"Well, Jake, it is the Doctor, so you know anything can happen. Relax, if anything goes wrong, we have the Doctor and Malcolm here to figure it out and besides at least it won't be boring,. Rose smiled and patted him on the arm.

"That's what I'm afraid of," muttered Jake.

The Doctor finished removing parts from Malcolm's scanner and reassembled them into a new configuration which was a smaller device. He pulled out his sonic and waved it over the device a few times before aiming the new modified scanner at the base of the statute. The effect was instantaneous. An amber-colored orb appeared at the base of the statute. Periodically it pulsed with a glow about it. Beneath it was a turquoise, mossy-like substance that appeared to spread out from beneath it onto the marble structure almost like it was growing out of the orb.

"Gorgeous! Oh, you are just lovely and so totally wrong! How did you get here?" the Doctor said as he walked up to the orb and knelt down beside it.

"Doctor, what is it?" asked Rose.

"Oh, this is a little bit of home, my home, and it is completely impossible for it to be here. It just can't exist," the Doctor said, rubbing a hand through his hair.

Rose knelt down beside him and gently put her hand on his shoulder. She looked at the orb pulse. It was almost hypnotic. She felt compelled to touch it.

"No!" screamed the Doctor and pulled Rose back. "You can't touch it!"

While the Doctor pulled Rose back, Malcolm had knelt forward and before the Doctor could stop him, laid his hand on the orb. Immediately there was a change in the air pressure and the breeze that had been blowing through Rose's hair stilled. The only sound they could hear was the Doctor's sigh.

"I really, really wish you hadn't done that," the Doctor said, glaring at Malcolm.

Malcolm looked down at where his hand was and yanked it back. He looked at the Doctor almost in shock. "I don't know why I did that! It was almost like I was compelled, like I couldn't not touch it. I don't understand, what happened?" 

"I thought you said everything would be all right!" Jake shouted.

"Everything is all right," responded the Doctor as he looked around them at the Torchwood agents standing outside the fountain. No one outside the fountain was moving. It was like they were stuck in time. The question was, who was stuck in time, the outside world or those standing in the fountain?

"Doctor," Rose said softly.

"All right, here's the problem. The orb sitting so quietly hidden away in this fountain contains a bit of raw time. Normally unless activated, it would be harmless, but something has happened and its leaking," the Doctor explained. "It's probably been leaking for some time now which may be why people have gone missing here. Not just missing, lost in time and that is a very dangerous thing. You see, they could be in the past or future. If they fell into the past, one small change could change everything in this world and perhaps it already has," the Doctor worried.

"So these missing people could have ended up anywhere in history?" asked Jake.

"I'm afraid so, and that's not the worst of it. One small change, something so simple as discovering penicillin a century before it was meant to be could alter human development, causing you lot to evolve too quickly or even destroy you. Time travel is serious business not intended for the reckless or careless," he lectured.

"So what do we do? How do we shut it off?" Jake demanded.

"We can't just shut it off. We could collapse the web of time and destroy not only this universe but all of them in a cascading effect. We have to be deliberate about this. First things first, no more getting friendly with the orb and that means all of you. I have to examine it and determine the extent of the temporal corrosion as well as establish if it's possible to retrieve the missing people. Oh, and one more thing, none of us can leave the fountain. If we even attempt to leave, we could be lost in time and that would be a very bad thing," the Doctor paced back and forth sloshing his way through the water as he explained the extent of their predicament.

"Oh, I see!" said Malcolm. "It's a temporal weigh station and if we step off the platform, we could be at any place on the timeline. Oh, dear, that's very not good." He shook his head and picked up the remains of his scanner, fingering the parts in a nervous manner.

"Right, so what can we do to help you Doctor?" Rose said in a upbeat positive manner. Things may look gloomy but her faith in the Doctor kept her grounded and focused on doing something to solve the problem.

"Everyone, look through your pockets, let's see what we have to work with," the Doctor asked them.

They grouped together at the base of the fountain to compare what materials they had to work with to solve their present dilemma. Rose had her mobile, chewing gum, plum-flavored lip gloss, plum being a favored flavor in Pete's World, a pen, keys and a credit card; Jake had substantially more as he was kitted out for this mission so his contribution was a mobile, head gear, epad, stunner, multipurpose watch and pocket knife; Malcolm, on the other hand, had the remains of his scanner, another epad, a protein bar and digital pen; the Doctor of course had an assortment of items in his very Time Lord enhanced pockets. Their collection of assets was varied and quite useful.

The Doctor went about examining the orb and determined that the leakage had started in the past 50 years. The organic material growing beneath the orb was a hybrid and was somewhat similar in nature to TARDIS coral although it was not sentient. This of course, peaked the Doctor's interest and he was determined that he was going to find a way for Rose and he to take the orb back to Dutton Manor to assist with their project. All it would take is a little slight of hand. Right now, however, he had to find a way to reverse the present circumstances.

He used the epads and combined them with the stunner using a bit of chewing gum and attaching some parts he had leftover in his pocket. He modified the electronic pen to work as a focusing device. He soniced the scanner he had built to coordinate with all these devices.

Jake and Rose had been sitting on the base of the fountain chatting and playing a game of Sudoko on their ephones. Malcolm was mentally reviewing his notes while periodically examining the remains of his scanner which the Doctor had cannibalized for parts. When the Doctor exclaimed he was done, Malcolm jumped while Rose and Jake just looked up with almost bored disinterest.

"Tell me you're getting us out of here. I'm feeling all pruny and a bit chilled not to mention the fact that I could really use a loo right about now," Rose complained.

Jake merely took one of his boots and emptied the water out of it to get his point across to the Doctor. They all gathered round so they could find out how the Doctor planned on solving this.

"Oh, come now, how many people can say they were caught in a time bubble! Really, you should take a minute to just appreciate the elegance of the technology of this orb," the Doctor recited to the most unsympathetic group.

"Can we just do this and get out of here!" Jake answered him.

"Fine, Malcolm, you stand over there to the right of the orb with the modified pen. Jake, take the scanner and stand to the left of the orb. Rose and I will stand in front with the temporal inhibitor. When I say go, Jake, point the scanner at the orb and Malcolm, you point the pen at the Temporal Inhibitor. When we start this, none of you can move and I mean not a millimeter. You must stay in your exact position. If you move, you could be lost in time. It's gonna get intense and when I say intense, it's going to feel like you are in the heart of a storm, which actually you will be. Ignore any strange noises or sensations, focus on the device in your hand and holding it steady."

"Doctor, what do I do?" asked Rose.

"You need to keep me grounded. I'm not full Time Lord anymore and I will be just as vulnerable as any of you. I have to concentrate on the orb and I need you to focus on me. You're my anchor just like you've always been," the Doctor said quietly, gazing into her eyes.

Rose nodded and walked up to him looping her arm through his so she could maintain physical contact. She concentrated on the Doctor and nodded her head. He turned away and focused on the Orb. He yelled, "Go!"

It was like the air was electrified and the wind picked up, blowing so hard water was flying through the air. All of them were drenched and dripping with it. Bits of debris flew at them stinging their faces and hands. The orb pulsed with an almost blinding light. The air around them started to pressurize, causing an intense pain in their ears. All four stood firm not flinching. There was another flash, and then everything just stopped. When the wind died down, they could hear people shouting, feel the sun on their faces and the fountain was beginning to flow again. They looked down at the orb, and the turquoise moss was gone and the orb was dark. Rose turned and looked at the Doctor. He turned to her and smiled. They'd done it!

"Malcolm, Jake, well done!" the Doctor shouted.

All of them were shouting and jumping for joy. When they looked around, they saw dozens of confused people. All the people who were caught in the orb's time leak had been pulled to this moment. They were surrounded by Torchwood agents as well. Pete broke through the crowd and ran up to the Doctor.

"Are you all right?" he asked in a tense voice.

"Oh, we're fine, just a bit damp," the Doctor answered with his typical charm.

"You've been gone a week, Jackie's been out of her mind with worry. Everything's gone mad, we kept detecting a rift here so we quarantined the whole town. Is it over?"

"Should be fine now. I used my handy dandy temporal inhibitor to fix the problem. All the lost people were returned and all in all, a stunning success," the Doctor said, pleased and patting his new gadget.

And of course, as soon as he thought everything was fine it all fell apart.


	8. Choices and Prophetic Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things do not go well for TenII and Rose. Events in this chapter are further explored in the sequel to this story so this is a very important chapter for the series. I love a good villain.

While Pete and the Doctor were discussing the events in the fountain, Rose was stepping out of the water and accepting a blanket from a Torchwood agent. As she looked out into the crowd, she noticed someone who did not belong. He was tall with a nice tan, jet black hair, well groomed and piercing green eyes. He was dressed in a dark gray suit with a black trench coat, but what really made him stand out was that he was staring directly at the Doctor and had something metallic in his hand. Rose made her way through the crowd to get closer to him to try and get a better look. He was so focused on the Doctor and was standing so still it was clear he wasn't human. Rose was only a few meters away from him when he suddenly turned toward her. She stopped and met his piercing gaze.

He moved toward her whistling a tune she couldn't quite place. Rose decided that it was best to walk up and confront him, and she strode forward with purpose.

"Hello, I couldn't help but notice you in the crowd, do you need help with something?" Rose asked in full Torchwood investigative mode.

"Rose Tyler, you look lovely for a woman who just survived the equivalent of a time storm," the strange man replied in a smooth cultured voice.

"Sorry, do I know you?"

"Not yet, but I know you. The girl who shouldn't be here, golden wanderer of the void, creature of time. Yes, I know all about you."

"What do you want?" Rose asked her voice clipped and stern.

"You have something of mine and I want it back," he said with a cold smile.

"Really, and what would that be?"

"Give the orb to me or the pain will increase tenfold."

"Pain what pain?" Rose heard the Doctor scream and fall to his knees, grasping his head. He was immediately surrounded by Torchwood agents and medics. Rose turned to the stranger. "What did you do!"

He stared at the Doctor and turned back to her. "Taught him a lesson. Neither of you should interfere in matters that don't concern you. Retrieve the orb now, or his suffering will continue and intensify."

Rose was torn between running to comfort the Doctor or putting some of her Torchwood self defense training to good use. Judging by the confidant smirk on his face, he enjoyed inflicting pain and felt assured she would comply. But he didn't know her. No, he might have a hint of her origins but he didn't know how fiercely Rose loved or what lengths she would go to protect this world and her Doctor. With a measured breath, she tilted her chin up in defiance. 

"The orb is dangerous and was hurting people. How do I know you won't use it against us? I mean, what's the point of me saving the Doctor by handing it over to you if you kill us anyway? Besides, if you're so powerful why don't you get it yourself?" Rose crossed her arms and glared at him, trying to not show how much the Doctor's screams in the background were affecting her.

"Each minute you waste, he suffers. There really is no need, it's a simple task for you to bring me the orb," the man said relaxed and casually running a finger over the metal disk in his hand.

"No, not until you answer my questions and tell me who you are." Rose knew she had to be strong for herself and for the Doctor.

"I am someone you could not possibly understand, little girl, now run along and fetch the orb," he leaned in closer to her in a menacing manner.

"So, definitely not human. Arrogant, rude, condescending and you know what the orb is or at least what it does. I take it you're a visitor here, maybe taking in the sights, causing a bit of mayhem while your here seeing how far you can push it before someone catches on to you. What I don't think your realize is that the young girl who was trapped here three years ago, grew up and she doesn't put up with rude, arrogant aliens that hurt people she loves." With that comment, Rose threw the blanket at him, struck him in his midsection with her right hand while kicking at his knee causing him to buckle. As he went down, she grabbed the metallic disk from his hand. She screamed for help while she jumped on top of the mystery man.

Later, she would look back on this with amazement -- how she instinctively knew what to do, While she was on top of the struggling alien who was laughing at her maniacally; she grasped the metal disc in her hand, and concentrated on the peaceful scene in her dream from the night before the closing on Dutton Manor. She could see herself in their bedroom with the lovely stained glass window only this time, she saw the Doctor lounging next to her, his arms wrapped around her looking over her shoulder at an open book in her lap. He was whispering in her ear. She didn't know what the words were but they filled her with a sense of peace. Then it was like she came back into herself only she was on a blanket on the ground and the stranger was gone. She could no longer hear the Doctor's screams and panicked at the thought that she had made things worse. Jake grabbed her shoulder and called out her name. She looked up at him, stunned, and then rose up and ran to the Doctor the disc still clutched in her hand.

The Doctor was lying still on the ground with an oxygen mask over his mouth and with medics hovering around him, taking his pulse and vital signs. Rose burst into tears and crouched beside him, grasping his hand, begging him to be all right. Pete knelt down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"They have him stabilized, Rose. Do you know what happened?"

The Doctor seemed to regain consciousness, pulled the mask off, and looked at Rose. "Rose, we have to get out of here now!"

He pulled Rose closer to him and whispered to her to grab the orb, that they were all in danger and needed to get away from the crowd quickly. Rose nodded tears running down her face. The Medics put the oxygen mask back on the Doctor, lifted him onto a gurney to take him back to Torchwood's medical facility. Rose turned to Pete.

"I saw someone who didn't belong in the crowd and he may be after the Doctor. Take the Doctor back to Torchwood. I'll follow along after I finish up here." Rose slipped the metal disc into her pocket as she spoke to Pete.

"Rose, sweetheart, you don't have to do this, you can go with the Doctor and I'll have Jake round up everyone here for questioning. We have to debrief all of them anyway. You've been through enough," Pete said with concern.

"No, I'm the only one that's seen him. Please, Pete, I need to do this," Rose insisted.

"All right. I'll make sure the Doctor get's the best care. Don't be long and don't take any risks. I want someone with you at all times."

"Thanks, Pete." Rose hugged him tightly.

She watched as Pete and the Doctor left in the ambulance, a part of her suffering for not being with the Doctor. She had to find the evil alien who hurt her Doctor. She knew he was still around somewhere. She gave Agent Dennis a quick description of who they were looking for in the crowd. Jake was rounding people up, readying them for transport when an altercation broke out. Rose sent Agent Dennis to help out despite his protests at leaving her side. Once she was rid of him she walked over to the fountain, picking up a blanket on the way so she could retrieve the orb. After she carefully picked it up in the blanket and tucked it under her arm and was making her way back through the water, she saw the dark menacing alien. He stood off to the side smiling at her. She stopped a few feet away, still standing in the cold water.

"You didn't think it was going to be easy, did you, Rose?" he asked with a slight growl in his voice.

"I'm not giving you the orb," she stated.

"You really have no idea what I'll do to get it, do you? It's my property stolen from me by petty criminals who had no idea as to its power. It's mine and I want it back," he said firmly.

"The answer's still no. Maybe this is yours and maybe you are telling the truth but you hurt the Doctor and have done nothing but threaten me and my planet. Not exactly the sort of things that make me want to give it to you, is it?" Rose replied, her muscles tense as she readied to defend herself.

"You know, it really is such a pity. You could have been so much more. There is such potential in you, such power if only we had met sooner. Unfortunately, certain things precluded that. You do know that the pathetic excuse of a half-breed Time Lord you are involved with is a mere shadow of what a Time Lord should be. He should have known all this would happen before it did. How can he possibly begin to help you become who you are meant to be? You would really do better to choose your friends more wisely. This universe is vast and those in the dark recesses, the ancient first ones, those who came before all the younger species have been watching you, this world and the nasty little tear between universes that you seem to be using for your own personal jaunts.

"Listen carefully, little girl, there is a great struggle for power in this universe. The ancient eternals have little tolerance for young, reckless races like this one. The struggle between chaos and order has been ongoing since the beginning and guess what? You're in the middle of it now. Sooner or later you're going to have to choose a side. This isn't just about this planet, this galaxy or even this universe. It's about all of time and the multiverse. Think about it -- who lives, dies, evolves or is simply a tool for other more advanced species. You give me the orb now and maybe I'll consider doing you a favor."

Rose stood rigidly in the fountain, barely feeling the chill of the water soaking through her jeans and trainers. Why oh why did she get stuck in the middle of these things? And her without the Doctor to help her. Oh this was definitely wreaking of her very prophetic dream. The Doctor just had to wake her up before she got further along in the dream which maybe could have helped her a little now. She was so gonna slap him later on after he was recovered. She looked down at the blanket enshrouded orb and thought about the Fluffy Fezzby and their little chat. She thought about the Doctor, the old girl beneath the manor, her Mum, Pete, Tony and all her friends at Torchwood and knew what she had to do.

"No." That was all Rose said to him head held high staring at him defiantly.

He laughed at her -- a gravelly deep chuckle that shook his chest and left shivers up her spine. And after he stopped, he put his hands in pockets, looked up to the sky, and then looked back down at her. 

"Well, you've made your choice then haven't you? It's a pity really. We could have been allies. Don't think you've won. I'm not the only one after the orb. If I were you, I'd prepare to be a bit busy. All eyes will be focused on this planet and looking for the orb. You'll never be able to hide it. Me and others like me will continue to hunt you and the orb until its full power can be released. You and your Doctor will never be safe until you hand it over We'll meet again, Rose Tyler, and next time, won't be as pleasant."

He turned and walked away, fading out of sight as he left her. Rose was unable to move too stunned and afraid by his threats. She looked down at the orb and feared she had made the wrong decision. She may have just endangered everyone she loved. Agent Dennis called her name. She tried to shrug off the looming danger and walked over to him.

"Let's get back to Torchwood, he's gone," Rose said quietly.

She gave Agent Dennis her keys and asked him to drive her car back to Torchwood while she rode back with Jake. During the ride, she sat silently her mind focused on how badly she needed to discuss this with the Doctor.

At Torchwood, she went directly to the medical ward and as she opened the doors, she could already hear the Doctor lecturing the medical staff. Her mother ran up to her and threw her arms around Rose.

"What is wrong with you! Why didn't you come to the hospital with the Doctor and look at you all soaked and shivering. Honestly, Rose, it's like you've got no sense!" Jackie reprimanded.

"I'm all right, Mum. Just had to see that everyone was safe back there. It's what the Doctor wanted."

Finally she was in the Doctor's room. He was sitting up on the bed, examining his own medical chart complaining about primitive human medicine. When she entered the room, he stopped and uttered her name softly. Rose ran over and wrapped her arms around him, the orb between them still in the blanket.

"Oh, Rose, I am so sorry," the Doctor whispered to her.

"We have to talk, and soon. Something's happened, and Doctor, I'm scared," she whispered back, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Rose, what do you think your doing, you need to get out of those wet clothes and just look at you, you're in such a state!" Jackie chastised, clearly in mother mode. "Here are some dry things, go get changed."

Rose carefully slipped the orb under the covers of the Doctor's bed, took the clean clothes and went to get dried and changed. The Doctor watched with worry as Rose left. He turned to Jackie and the Torchwood medical staff.

"Well then, I think we have determined that I am as healthy as a Hintz, a friendly furry one, mind you, so I'll just be grabbing my coat, collect Rose and be out of your way." He hopped off the bed, carefully tucking the orb under his coat.

"You collapsed, and you and Rose were missing for a week! You're not going anywhere," Jackie stated with a no-nonsense tone to her voice.

"Jackie, it may have been a week for you, but we were in a sort of time bubble so for us it was just a few hours. You see, not long at all, just a little damp and boring unless you count the impossible time bubble part of it," he said with his typical lighthearted tone as he tied his trainers.

"Pete, you're there boss! Tell them they need to get medical care!"

"Doctor, you collapsed in pain in front of me," Pete reminded him, sliding his arm around Jackie. "You should at least stay here for 24 hours observation." 

"What that? Oh, that was just a little backlash after the time popped," the Doctor said, popping his p's. "The device was disarmed and eventually disintegrated. Everything fine and fit," the Doctor said, telling a little white lie about the orb. From the look on Rose's face and everything that had happened, he was not going to let Torchwood get their hands on the orb.

Rose came back into the room and the Doctor walked over and took her hand.

"Let's go home," he said softly to her.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Rose agreed, tucking herself into his side.

Jackie sighed, "Fine, off with you then but your coming for tea tomorrow. See if you can stay out of trouble for a day. And I mean that. Enough with the time whatevers and criminal aliens."

The Doctor nodded at Pete and Jackie, and he and Rose left Torchwood. This time the Doctor drove them home. Rose slumped in her seat and hadn't said more than two words to him during the drive when suddenly she turned to him.

"You were right. Something's coming."


	9. Chapter 9

Rose lay asleep on the old worn leather couch in the study at Dutton Manor. After they arrived home the prior night, the Doctor carried her in from the car. For once, the Doctor was grateful for domestics like acquiring the furnishings as part of their house purchase. He sat in a weathered brown leather chair by the fireplace watching Rose, having napped for a short time after tucking her in for the night. The orb sat in a crystal bowl on a table next to him. 

Rose had yet to tell him what happened while he was unconscious but he had suspicions of otherworldly interference and the feelings he was sensing from the old girl below were only confirming his worry. Something was terribly wrong and Rose was in the middle of it. He was tempted to wake her up and demand she tell him but he knew, although she was one of the strongest people he had ever met, she was exhausted and had reached a breaking point.

While Rose slept, the Doctor went exploring in the kitchen to see if he could find the makings for tea. Luckily, he found a tea kettle and some cups and found some tea bags and sugar packets in his pocket. He anxiously brewed tea while he waited for Rose to awaken. He wished he could abolish this feeling of unease. Just sitting there waiting for Rose with a heavy sense in his chest that something was coming was driving him a bit mad. After a cuppa, nervous energy pounded through him. And he decided to explore the house and examine it for anything left behind by the prior owners as focus on securing the house from unwanted guests.

Hours later Rose called out to him.

Heart pounding, he into the study. Rose was sitting up, her hair in disarray rubbing at her eyes.

"Good morning, would you like some tea," the Doctor asked softly.

Rose blinked sleepily and nodded her head. The memories of the events from the day before weighed heavily on her mind. The doctor handed her a cup of tea. She sipped and looked up at him. He waited patiently for her to say something. 

"Doctor, we have to talk about yesterday."

"Oh Rose I am so so sorry. I should have known what was coming," the Doctor said dejectedly. "There was no way that orb could be there by accident. It had to have been placed there by someone with advanced knowledge and technology. The moment it was triggered by Malcolm, it would have become a beacon to anyone on the lookout for temporal anomalies. It's just, I had hoped I'd have time to stabilize and move it. I should never have allowed Torchwood to distract me. I should have…." Rose stopped him before he could finish.

"No Doctor, none of this was your fault. You need to let me tell you about who attacked you yesterday."

"I know what it was. I may not be full Time Lord but I'm still sensitive to the flow of time. Someone used my sensitivity against me. It was a sort of a burst of time directed at me specifically. There aren't many creatures in the universe capable of that and those that are, well, they should have been destroyed in the Time War."

"Doctor he looked human but I could tell he wasn't. It was like he looked right through me and he was carrying this," Rose reached into her pocket and pulled out the metal disc and handed it to the Doctor. The Doctor gasped as he held it in his hand.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked Rose.

"No, only that he was holding it in his hand and seemed pretty intently focused on you. When I questioned him, he got all threatening and that's when you screamed out. He did something while holding it didn't he?"

"Oh I doubt he needed this for that. This was only a bit of a calling card. Haven't seen one of these in a very, very long time. What else did he say to you?"

"He kept demanding the orb and saying he was teaching you a lesson for interfering where you shouldn't. He said he knew me and he knew about the dimension rip. Doctor, he called me a creature of time and he knew all about you. He kept going on about ancient old ones and eternals and how people would come looking for the orb. He said that someone stole it from him and he wanted it back."

The Doctor felt a cold chill run through him. This shouldn't be possible. The ripple from the Time War should have destroyed the eternals but then again, they're eternal so he guessed that meant they could survive anything, even a critical mass overload in time.

"Anything else, what did you do when the eternal attacked me?"

Rose looked down a bit before continuing. "Uh, I sort of hit him and tackled him to the ground."

"You What?" he exclaimed and jumped up and began pacing "I'm sorry, it sounded like you said you attacked him?"

"Um Yeah," said Rose a bit sheepishly sipping her tea.

The Doctor collapsed on the sofa next to her. "Do you have any idea what he could have done to you -- to the whole planet? Rose, never ever attack an eternal. They have enormous power at their disposal -- so much so they could practically unmake the entire planet." The Doctor sat back rubbing his temples, stunned at what Rose had done. But a small part of him was actually a little proud. His Rose would go down fighting.

"Okaaay, so we have one ticked off eternal after us, a powerful orb that everyone wants and somehow ended up in a fountain outside of London and oh yes, it has a tendency to leak time." he mumbled.

"Doctor, he also said that the ancient first ones had been watching me cross the void; that some battle between chaos and order is going on and that we're sort of in the middle of it and needed to choose a side. I may have, sort of, chosen by accident."

"What do you mean by accident?" the Doctor snapped, sitting up and facing her.

"Well, by not giving him the orb, he said I had chosen. He told me it was a pity cause he would've given me a favor if I'd helped him. He said all eyes were on us now and next time we met, it wouldn't be friendly."

The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut, ran his hands through his hair. When he finally opened his eyes, he looked at Rose.

"Rose Tyler, you certainly know how to annoy the wrong people don't you? That being said, you did the right thing. This creature could have done incredible harm with the orb. There's no telling what his plans are," the Doctor gently patted the orb.

Rose nearly came undone when she saw the Doctor touch it. "What are you doing! I thought that thing was dangerous when you touched it!" Rose shouted, flinching awa.

"Not for me. Time Lord me, well part Time Lord. Still, I know what I'm doing. Malcolm was under the influence of psychic energy leaking through time when he touched the orb, and well, he didn't have the right temporal senses to control it. I on the other hand, am quite temporally endowed." The Doctor sniffed and adjusted his tie and looked a bit smug after this pronouncement.

Rose sighed and shifted closer to him before a smile broke out. "Yeah you are." 

Now that she and the Doctor were working out what to do, Rose started feeling better. There was one more thing she needed to talk to the Doctor about. "Doctor, there is one more thing."

"There's more?" The Doctor asked, his brow furrowing.

"Well, you see I had this dream the other night and well, I think it was sort of about what's happening."

"What do you mean sort of? What did you dream?"

"I was in Dutton Manor and it was all quite lovely but then I was in a garden maze with this rude little Fluffy Fezzby fellow and --" Before she could finish, the Doctor jumped up and started pacing.

"You met the Prime Fluffy Fezzby and didn't tell me!" he exclaimed. "Well what did he say? He doesn't just appear unless its important.” He stopped pacing and turned to her in a a hitch in his nervous voice, “You didn't taunt him did you?"

"Doctor, will you let me finish! No I didn't exactly taunt him but he was a bit rude at first. Anyway, he talked to me about choices and choosing and made me think about choices I made in the past, specifically choices that related to you. Everything was fine and I chose a path and was getting down the path when all of sudden you woke me up, so I never found out anything else. Thanks for that by the way." Rose crossed her arms and sat back with a scowl.

"How is this my fault? And what do you mean choices relating to me?"

"It's nothing, just a lesson that's all. And it's how I knew what to tell the scary eternal yesterday."

"I see." The Doctor nodded his head, eyes narrowed on Rose.

"Doctor are you doing okay? You look a bit peaked. You did get attacked yesterday. Maybe you should rest a bit?" Rose was more than a little worried. He had deep shadows under his eyes. His suit was rumpled and even his hair looked dull and tired.

"Rose, it was just a bit of an overload. I'm fine. We have bigger problems with that orb and how to keep it safe. But while you were napping I did a quick once over of the Manor. So far it looks free of any monitoring devices. I still want to install some jamming equipment as well as a perception filter. The old girl below will be key in getting a perception filter working and large enough to cover the entire Manor. It's definitely a priority."

"All right but you need to promise me you'll get some rest tonight. It's no good if you collapse from exhaustion." She swept his hair off his forehead. "So what’s this perception filter you're working on?"

The Doctor deftly ignored her worry about his physical state and instead went into lecture mode.

"It's like the TARDIS -- a telepathic field which will be generated by the TCB which misdirects the senses so that when someone looks at the Manor, they won't find anything unusual or noteworthy about it. For example, there was a perception filter around the orb, powered by the orb which is why no one could see it on the fountain. Well, anyone except me, but that would be Time Lord senses."

"So, it'll work on humans but not eternals?" Rose asked.

"Nothing we have here is going to keep an eternal out. The best we can hope for is to hide the orb in as many layers of perception filters, wavelength diverters, jamming equipment and anything else I can find or cobble together. None of that is a perfect fix but it may give us time to think of what to do."

Rose was quiet and stared at the floor. The Doctor kneeled in front of her.

"Hey, its going to be all right. We've been through worse," the Doctor spoke to her softly, resting his hands on her thighs.

"It's just we don't ever seem to get a break," she said with a hitch in her voice. "Here we are in this lovely home with the TCB and this chance for a brilliant future but now, we just have this eternal thing hanging over us like the grim reaper." The Doctor pulled her down into his lap and leaned his forehead against hers.

"You are Rose Tyler and I am the Doctor, the stuff of legends,. If it was easy, we'd be bored," the Doctor teased her.

Rose smiled and layed a soft kiss against his lips.

"Right, well first things first, breakfast!" the Doctor exclaimed jumping up with great enthusiasm, pulling her up with him. "Unfortunately, we have no provisions in this house but luckily I am always prepared." The Doctor reached into one of his coat pockets and pulled out two bananas and a two packets of biscuits. "Molto Bene! Breakfast."

Rose giggled and they both of devoured the bananas and biscuits. 

"Welll that will have to do for now," the Doctor said as he binned the remnants of their meal. "Let's get to work on the Manor and do something with this pesky orb."

They spent hours setting up jamming devices, deadlock sealing windows and doors, and starting on the perception filter. The Doctor had revived the MST so that they could transport back and forth between the TCB beneath the house and the main floor of the house. They worked together seamlessly just as they had aboard the TARDIS. Each anticipated the needs of the other almost as if telepathically linked. By mid afternoon, they were both famished and tired. Rose had just received a reminder text from Jackie about tea that night so they tried to wind down their work so they could get ready to head over to the Tyler mansion.

Rose lingered in a nice hot shower but as she lingered she started to fret about everything. After she changed into clothes which the Doctor had brought up from the car, she went downstairs and found the Doctor standing in the solarium staring out at the garden.

"Hey," Rose said softly as she came up and curled under his arm. He wrapped his arm tightly around her.

"You've been worrying," he said to her.

"Perhaps a bit," she acknowledged.

"All we can do is the best we can. We can't live our lives in constant fear and worry. Remember when we first found the old girl and I told you she was a bit concerned?"

"Yeah but we took care of Abby," Rose reminded him.

"It wasn't about just Abby," he said squeezing Rose to him. "She could sense the orb and what the orb's presence meant. This thing we're in the middle of, this struggle of chaos versus order, it's been going on since the beginning of time and will continue until the end of all things whether or not we interfere or take sides. The truth is we can't not be involved. It's a given that we are and will be. 

"There was a time oh so long ago, when I was put in the position of choosing one side over another. I was contacted by one of the Guardians of Time of our old universe. He was the White Guardian who represented order and he put me in charge of assembling the key to time, a powerful device meant to restore balance in that universe. His opposite, the Black Guardian who represented chaos tried to stop me and steal the Key to Time. It didn't end well and eventually I was forced to destroy it utterly. Eternals are like no other beings in the universe and none of them are to be trusted completely."

"So White and Black, is that like good versus evil?" Rose asked.

"Rose, you will find that what is good or evil is subjective and a matter of opinion. What's good to me, may not be to someone else. This really isn't about good or evil but chaos versus order just like the eternal told you. It's important that we don't confuse those concepts. You see, there are some who think that the universe evolves through chaos and stagnates with order. Others feel that the universe can only evolve through order. Truth is, I believe that there needs to be both. I may not always like the form that chaos chooses, like war or violence but sometimes from destruction, something beautiful is born."

"How will we know what to do, what's right?" Rose asked leaning her head against him.

"We're going to have to feel this one out. See what happens. You know make it up as we go, same as usual," the Doctor shrugged.

Rose smiled back at him. "So we're doing this together right?"

"Together, always," he said smiling at her.

To be continued in The Eternal Adventure.


End file.
